BREAKING-(10am EDT): Hikers Free

[Are_grits_groceries]

Source: @anncurry

AnnCurry Ann Curry
#hikers free after more than 780 days. Appear to be heading to the airport now in Omani hands.

Ann Curry has been on top of this story and tweeting for days.








No link yet.

[oberliner]

1. Huzzah!

Good news indeed.

[klook]

2. Headed to Oman, looks like

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/21/2nd-iranian-judge-signs-off-on-hiker-release-attorney-says/

Fantastic news!

[PassingFair]

3. Way to go, Hillary! See, negotiation beats OBLITERATION any day! nt

[cilla4progress]

6. Truly! And listening to Obama at the U.N.

this principle is underscored. Wow. The Arab spring... this admin supported bringing democracy - true democracy - to that part of the world, w/o invading those countries. The NATO bombing in Libya? I don't know... But kudos to the people of those countries who have taken their OWN future into their hands...with our support, but not our invading armies.

[slackmaster]

10. The negotiation consisted of determining the amount of money to be paid

It didn't require any special diplomatic skills. The only issue at hand was the price.

[PassingFair]

12. Still beats the obliteration idea. nt

[slackmaster]

24. I don't recall the Obliteration Option ever being on the table

Am I wrong?

[PassingFair]

28. If it works for strikes against Israel, it will work for hikers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjHsXiJxk6Q

[glinda]

58. Price, timing and Sultan of Oman who maintains good relations with Iran as well

as makes money from us from oil.

[Iliyah]

42. Yeah you are right

PassingFair. If a crazed/socipath repub was in as prez I think we would have been in war number 3 (boots on the ground).

Good news, the O Admin. negotiated and subsequently paid for their freedom.

[slackmaster]

4. How much was the ransom?

A million, or two?

[lavenderdiva]

7. $500,000 each n/t

[slackmaster]

8. Great. Those men should be compelled to reimburse the federal government for that amount.

They're still young enough to work it off.

[zanana1]

15. They spent two miserable years in jail.

I thing they've "paid it off".

[ronnie624]

20. And besides,

it's likely they were just following orders, anyway.

[alcibiades_mystery]

30. These guys were most certainly working for intelligence agencies

The whole thing has been a farce. Of course, even saying that makes anyone sound like they support the imbecile Iranian government, which couldn't be further from the truth in my case. But the notion that these folks were just "hiking" along the border is laughable beyond belief. They were intelligence agents, obviously.

[ronnie624]

31. I agree.

Anyone who truly believes they were hiking, has clearly never stepped outside the MSM propaganda bubble.

[Muskypundit]

41. We dont have lanky ass white guys spy for us in iran.

The idea that they are spies is preposterous. In fact there is debate over whether they even crossed the border or not. They were nabbed.

[ronnie624]

70. There are many "lanky ass white guys" in the Mddle East,

and that includes Iran. Some of them even have blonde hair and blue eyes. The ethnicity of all of the presumed hikers would allow them to fit right in.

[slackmaster]

67. Sorry, but even the Iranian intelligence agency that arrested them...

...failed to provide any evidence to support that claim at their trial.

I think you have been bamboozled.

[slackmaster]

25. That's their own dumb fault. This affair cost US a whole lot more than the ransom money.

The ransom is just a tangible expense.

If you do something stupid on a hiking trip and have to get your sorry ass rescued, it's quite common for the rescuing entity to bill you for the service.

[whopis01]

27. Which federal government should they pay?

Their bail was paid by Oman.

[slackmaster]

61. I have no doubt that Oman will be reimbursed by our federal government

It's your money, and mine.

[earthside]

34. Hmmm.

I suspect they work for the U.S. government.

Either that or that are so mentally impaired that they should be institutionalized.

Hiking on the Iranian border during a war?

Oh, really.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

50. It's not ransom. It's bail.

If they don't show up for their next court appearance, Iran might hire Dog the Bounty Hunter.

[slackmaster]

52. That would be pretty funny.

:rofl:

[David Sky]

54. The government didn't pay the ransome, private parties did.

Why should NON-TRESSPASSERS who were held in an Iranian jail for 780 days have to pay anyone?

Iran is the only party that insists that these two were trespassing and spying. There is no proof of either assertion.

Really, some people need to read up before posting something as outrageous as

"Great. Those men should be compelled to reimburse the federal government for that amount.
Posted by slackmaster

They're still young enough to work it off."

[slackmaster]

62. They were picked up in Iran. It's pretty clear that they were in the country illegally.

Like most countries in the world, Iran does not take kindly to people who enter without permission.

[ThomCat]

66. Why?

Did the government pay any of that money?

Are somehow responsible for what Iran chose to do? :wtf:

Because you like rubbing salt in their wounds after they've just spent TWO YEARS in a foreign jail?

[bigworld]

5. "hikers" free

[Ian David]

17. Hikers and Free should both be in quotes. A million dollars isn't free. n/t

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slackmaster]

11. Do you really believe those dumb fucktards were CIA agents?

:rofl:

[Ian David]

18. They LOOK like spies...

[ronnie624]

If I consider the U.S. military presense in the region,

the ongoing political conflict with Iran, credible reports of intensive covert operations by the U.S. government there, and knowledge of the CIA's history and methods, I think there is a significant probability that they are CIA agents. We will probably never know for sure, but the possibility definitely exists.

[Are_grits_groceries]

21. I don't discount it entirely given

what the CIA has done throughout the years. However, whatever they were up to or supposed to be up to isn't clear at all. There could not be 3 more obviously foreign people wandering around. There is no way they would have fit in, and I wouldn't want to be their Iranian contact. Maybe they were testing Iran's border security? Yeah....That's the ticket.

[ronnie624]

22. You "don't discount it entirely given what the CIA has done throughout the years"

Yes, that's very similar to what I said.

You are mistaken in your belief that all Middle-Easterners look the same.

[Are_grits_groceries]

39. I never said that all M-E looked the same.

I just think these 3 mooks were obviously not from the area.

[slackmaster]

26. So you don't have any verifiable information to indicate that they were working for the CIA

Gotcha.

[ronnie624]

29. When all is considered,

it becomes clear that a significant probability exists.

On edit, according to declassified CIA memos, they are directly responsible for the dissemination of the "conspiracy theory" meme. Propaganda is a CIA forte, and they depend on people like you to mindlessly regurgitate it for them.

[slackmaster]

46. Whereas you are mindlessly regurgitating Iranian propaganda...

...that holds that the hikers were spying on, uh, what exactly?

[ronnie624]

69. I did not say they were "spying",

I said there was a certain degree of probability that they were CIA agents.

[harun]

35. More likely Mossad

[tawadi]

40. That was my thinking too. eom

[slackmaster]

47. If they were Mossad, they would have killed at least 50 Iranians and escaped

Come on, man, get your stereotypes straight!

[GoCubsGo]

43. Why am I having images of that kid from Doonesbury here?

[slackmaster]

48. The Red Rascal!

[The Stranger]

49. Do you really think "hikers" were "hiking" in a war zone?

:rofl:

[slackmaster]

51. They were hiking in a mountainous area. The whole country of Iraq is not a war zone.

They are dumbshits.

[The Stranger]

55. You really can't be that naive.

There are mountainous areas all over the fucking planet.

Even "dumbshits" don't go into a war zone to "hike."

Professionals do that -- and I'm not talking about professional hikers, either.

[slackmaster]

60. What possible purpose would spying in that particular area have served?

You have to be kidding.

[LanternWaste]

57. I imagine that absolute belief they are agents

I imagine that absolute belief they are agents is just as absurd as an absolute belief they are not.

However, I do realize we often hold others to a higher standard of debate than we ourselves may hold... :shrug:

[ozone_man]

63. Do you really believe they were hikers?

:rofl:

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. Please tell me what on earth

you think those 3 'agents' could have done in Iran? If they were carrying anything damning with them, Iran would have trumpeted it around the world.

They certainly were ill-prepared to avoid being captured or there was a major lack of help from inside Iran. Maybe they did pass some info to somebody while imprisoned, but that is a hell of a way to go about it.

If there was some underlying mission, I doubt if we will ever find out about it unless Wikileaks can unearth something.

If they were under anybody's control, it certainly wasn't the WH or SOS as far as I can tell. Their presence over there at this time was a major headache that had to be dealt with.

[ljm2002]

23. Well if they were deep cover...

...that means they would not be acknowledged as agents even if captured or killed. That's the kind of agent Valerie Plame was. It's part of the deal if you sign up for that kind of assignment.

Also, not sure about the woman, but both of those men could easily pass as Iranian, at least by looks alone. I of course have no idea if they speak Farsi or were actually agents or were just what they claim to be, recreational hikers who accidentally wandered over the Iran border. But somehow it seems more than a little odd that they would choose to go hiking in the mountains of Iraq, right along the border with Iran. I mean, it's one thing to be adventurous, and quite another to be downright suicidal.

In spite of all that, I am very glad to hear they have been released, and I'm sure they and their families are hugely relieved.

[tblue]

14. YAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!

So happy for them and their families.

[Ian David]

16. I wonder where they will vacation next year? I hear Somalia is lovely. n/t

[rtracey]

32. funny

That is pretty funny, but deep down there may be a lot of people asking "who would hike in a war torn area of Iraq and Afganistan, and happen to cross into Iran, He folks next time hike the Rocky Mountain Trails.......

[glinda]

59. hahahaha

[Magleetis]

64. North Korea perhaps?

[Beacool]

19. Congratulations all around!!!!

Now, if people would stop doing stupid things, they wouldn't get into these jams in the first place. First the two Current journalist who crossed into North Korea and now the three hikers who crossed the border into Iran.

:eyes:

[maxsolomon]

33. Stupid is what Americans do best

don't forget the bonehead who swam across the lake to Aung Saan Su Kyi's house, giving the Burmese Junta an excuse to keep her in house arrest even longer.

or the bonehead who traveled over to Pakistan repeatedly looking to assasinate OBL.

[Beacool]

37. You're right.

I had forgotten about them. People need to think first and then act. Otherwise, the consequences are too severe.

:(

[dipsydoodle]

36. self delete

.

[zonkers]

38. Our secret mission is finally complete. Iran, you got punked.

[wial]

44. I wonder

if this has anything to do with bargaining around the Palestinian statehood issue in the UN.

[Oceansaway]

45. GREAT !...n/t

[lunatica]

53. I'm very happy about this

[SoCalDem]

56. Good..NOW I hope that adrenaline-tourism can be addressed

I am glad they are freed, but just think of all the unnecessary diplomacy that had to go on for these people to get out of there.. and they are not the first..and probably not the last either:(

The days of young Americans wandering the globe, cloaked in invincibility, have been over for decades. There are just some places in the world that are NOT safe for tourism of any kind.. It might have seemed adventurous to hike so near a war zone, but borders are disputed all over the globe, and event he fanciest of gps devices cannot protect one from a zealous border guard who decides that you are on their "side". Once in custody, a whole other can of worms gets opened.

There was a time when saying, "I am an American" would make a dangerous position less so. but these days those words could get you executed on the spot, or imprisoned and later used as a political bargaining chip in negotiations pushed onto our state department.

[BlueIris]

65. Well, it's. About. Time.

Poor guys.

[Rhiannon12866]

68. K&R! Great news!!!

:woohoo: