Hey Obama, Roxana Is Crying Out For Your Help!

Photo: AP

Hey Obama, just because you're ignoring the Obama "Iranian Hostage Situation," doesn't mean it's going to go away. Come on, at least ask Iran in your best "pretty please" way to release Roxana.

Honestly, just try for one minute to imagine yourself in an Iranian prision. If you could, don't you think you'd want your President to be doing a little more than you as President are doing? Does this concept even click? If not, you shouldn't be President, you should be the one in an Iranian prison. It's that simple, even for you.

And you profess to be against torture.
Rees

US journalist hospitalized in Teheran

The American journalist on a hunger strike for two weeks to protest her imprisonment in Iran was briefly hospitalized after she intensified her fast by refusing to drink water, Reporters Without Borders said Monday.

The press freedom group said 32-year-old Roxana Saberi was taken Friday to a clinic at Teheran's Evin prison, where she has been held since her arrest in January. She was released from the clinic within a day after again drinking water, the group said.

Saberi's Iranian-born father, who traveled to Iran to seek his daughter's release, said last month that she was drinking only sweetened water while refusing food to protest her eight-year jail sentence for allegedly spying for the US.

Reporters Without Borders said her father, Reza Saberi, told the group over the weekend that she stopped drinking water after Iranian authorities denied she was on a hunger strike.

"So following that, she decided to do a complete hunger strike," Soazig Dollet of the Paris-based group told The Associated Press. "So she was really weak and went to the clinic inside the prison for the day, but not more than a day."

Saberi's father did not answer phone calls seeking comment on Monday.

Saberi, a dual Iranian-American citizen, has lived in Iran for the last six years. She was born in the US and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota.

She was initially accused of working without press credentials, but authorities later made the more serious charge that she passed intelligence to the US She was convicted on the espionage charge after a one-day trial behind closed doors.

The Obama administration has called the allegations baseless and demanded her immediate release.

The case has been a source of tension between the US and Iran at a time when the Obama administration is reaching out to Tehran after decades of diplomatic stalemate.

Saberi was working as a freelance reporter for organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp. before her arrest.

Iranian authorities have promised a fair review of her appeal, while calling for an end to what they consider outside interference from groups like Reporters Without Borders.

Four of the journalist group's members, including its secretary-general, began their own hunger strikes a week ago in support of Saberi, while urging her to end her own protest out of concern for her health.

In Teheran on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi said the group's protest was not welcome.

"Iran's judiciary is an independent body and any foreign attempt to intervene in it goes against international measures," he told reporters in his weekly briefing.

"This is not a complicated issue. This Iranian lady has got a sentence and should wait and see what verdict the appeals court will issue," he said.
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Obama's Iranian Hostage Situation: Has he already forgotten about Roxana Saberi?

Hey Obama, just because you're ignoring your "Iranian Hostage Situation," doesn't mean it's going to go away. Come on, at least ask Iran to "pretty please" release Roxana.

Honestly, just try for one minute to imagine yourself in an Iranian prision. If you could, don't you think you'd want your President to be doing a little more than you as President are doing? Does this concept even click? If not, you shouldn't be President, you should be the one in an Iranian prison. It's that simple, even for you.
Rees

Nancy Pelosi Knew about Waterboarding

Americans have to decide now - We can't have a secret intelligence service if we keep giving away all the secrets

from The Washington Post
By Porter J. Goss
Saturday, April 25, 2009

Since leaving my post as CIA director almost three years ago, I have remained largely silent on the public stage. I am speaking out now because I feel our government has crossed the red line between properly protecting our national security and trying to gain partisan political advantage. We can't have a secret intelligence service if we keep giving away all the secrets. Americans have to decide now.

A disturbing epidemic of amnesia seems to be plaguing my former colleagues on Capitol Hill. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, members of the committees charged with overseeing our nation's intelligence services had no higher priority than stopping al-Qaeda. In the fall of 2002, while I was chairman of the House intelligence committee, senior members of Congress were briefed on the CIA's "High Value Terrorist Program," including the development of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and what those techniques were. This was not a one-time briefing but an ongoing subject with lots of back and forth between those members and the briefers

Today, I am slack-jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were to actually be employed; or that specific techniques such as "waterboarding" were never mentioned. It must be hard for most Americans of common sense to imagine how a member of Congress can forget being told about the interrogations of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. In that case, though, perhaps it is not amnesia but political expedience.

Let me be clear. It is my recollection that:

-- The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high-value terrorists.

-- We understood what the CIA was doing.

-- We gave the CIA our bipartisan support.

-- We gave the CIA funding to carry out its activities.

-- On a bipartisan basis, we asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission against al-Qaeda.

I do not recall a single objection from my colleagues. They did not vote to stop authorizing CIA funding. And for those who now reveal filed "memorandums for the record" suggesting concern, real concern should have been expressed immediately -- to the committee chairs, the briefers, the House speaker or minority leader, the CIA director or the president's national security adviser -- and not quietly filed away in case the day came when the political winds shifted. And shifted they have.

Circuses are not new in Washington, and I can see preparations being made for tents from the Capitol straight down Pennsylvania Avenue. The CIA has been pulled into the center ring before. The result this time will be the same: a hollowed-out service of diminished capabilities. After Sept. 11, the general outcry was, "Why don't we have better overseas capabilities?" I fear that in the years to come this refrain will be heard again: once a threat -- or God forbid, another successful attack -- captures our attention and sends the pendulum swinging back. There is only one person who can shut down this dangerous show: President Obama.

Unfortunately, much of the damage to our capabilities has already been done. It is certainly not trust that is fostered when intelligence officers are told one day "I have your back" only to learn a day later that a knife is being held to it. After the events of this week, morale at the CIA has been shaken to its foundation.

We must not forget: Our intelligence allies overseas view our inability to maintain secrecy as a reason to question our worthiness as a partner. These allies have been vital in almost every capture of a terrorist.

The suggestion that we are safer now because information about interrogation techniques is in the public domain conjures up images of unicorns and fairy dust. We have given our enemy invaluable information about the rules by which we operate. The terrorists captured by the CIA perfected the act of beheading innocents using dull knives. Khalid Sheik Mohammed boasted of the tactic of placing explosives high enough in a building to ensure that innocents trapped above would die if they tried to escape through windows. There is simply no comparison between our professionalism and their brutality.

Our enemies do not subscribe to the rules of the Marquis of Queensbury. "Name, rank and serial number" does not apply to non-state actors but is, regrettably, the only question this administration wants us to ask. Instead of taking risks, our intelligence officers will soon resort to wordsmithing cables to headquarters while opportunities to neutralize brutal radicals are lost.

The days of fortress America are gone. We are the world's superpower. We can sit on our hands or we can become engaged to improve global human conditions. The bottom line is that we cannot succeed unless we have good intelligence. Trading security for partisan political popularity will ensure that our secrets are not secret and that our intelligence is destined to fail us.

The writer, a Republican, was director of the CIA from September 2004 to May 2006 and was chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 1997 to 2004.
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UPDATE: Iran Charges American Woman With Spying and Treason

Roxana has been in Iran for 6 years. Iran is continuing with their nuclear program and the U.S. and Europe are trying to convince Iran to stop. Iran has thumbed their nose at everyone in the process and they have used every technique available to buy them more time. The Iranian nuclear program has reached a critical point where it must be stopped. If the U.S. and Europe won't stop it, Israel probably will. The timing of this is not coincidental. It's a diversion, plain and simple.
Rees

By FARNAZ FASSIHI
April 8, 2009

BEIRUT -- Iran's judiciary charged Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old American freelance journalist, with espionage on Wednesday after detaining her in prison for more than two months.

The charge was outlined on state television Wednesday evening by the Revolutionary Court judge in charge of the prosecution of Ms. Saberi, who was arrested Jan. 31.

Judge Sohrab Heydarifard said that Ms. Saberi had been collecting interviews and documents from government circles under the cover of a reporter, sometimes working without an Iranian government press card, and then transferring the information to American intelligence services.

"This has been uncovered by the counterespionage section of the Information Ministry, and she has thus been arrested. She will stand trial in the course of the following week," said Mr. Heydarifard.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was deeply concerned by the reported charge against Ms. Saberi and demanded her immediate release.

According to Iranian judiciary officials, Ms. Saberi has admitted to the charge against her. However, her lawyer, Abdulsamad Khoramshahi, said that she is innocent and has been wrongly accused.

"My first goal is to get her out on bail as soon as possible and then prove to the court that she must be acquitted on all charges," said Mr. Khoramshahi in a telephone interview from her home in Tehran.

Allegations against Ms. Saberi have fluctuated since her arrest. Iranian authorities first said Ms. Saberi had broken the law by purchasing a bottle of wine. Then they said she was working without a valid press card, although working without such a permit isn't a crime under Iranian law. They said initially that she would be released within weeks, and then that it might take months or years.

"We are very concerned for Roxana and for her safety. There is a serious lack of information in her case. What is the evidence against her?" said Mohamad Abdel Dayem, the Middle East director for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Espionage is an extremely serious crime in Iran's penal code, and cases go to trial in the Revolutionary Court, a separate court system that also deals with such high-level crimes as treason and drug trafficking.

A senior public prosecutor in Tehran said that if Ms. Saberi were convicted of spying, she would face between three and 10 years in prison. If the court found her guilty of spying with intent to overthrow the government, she could face execution.

Over the past two months, as Ms. Saberi's case has received global attention, with petitions circling on the Internet for her immediate release, the U.S. Congress has lobbied on her behalf and Ms. Clinton said last week that the U.S. had sent Iran an official letter asking for her release. Iran denies receiving such a letter.

Ms. Saberi's case could complicate recent diplomatic gestures between Iran and the U.S., aimed at thawing ties severed in 1979. President Barack Obama has said he is ready to negotiate with Iran to try to resolve their differences. Tehran has said it too is willing to negotiate if it sees real policy change from the U.S.

Some analysts in Iran say that Ms. Saberi's case has taken a political tone and that she might be used as leverage to secure the release of three Iranian nationals arrested in Iraq in a U.S. military raid in 2007. The three Iranians are accused by the U.S. of spying for Iran's Revolutionary Guards but so far haven't been formally charged.

Ms. Saberi was born to an Iranian father and a Japanese mother in the U.S. and grew up in Fargo, N.D. She was an accomplished student, star athlete and a beauty queen who was crowned Miss North Dakota in 1997.

She moved to Iran six years ago to work as a freelance journalist and did broadcast and print stints for the BBC, National Public Radio, CBS and other media organizations. Two years ago, her press card was revoked, but she continued to work on personal projects, conducting interviews for a book on Iran.

Colleagues and friends in Iran say that she was mild-mannered and careful in her reportage and they were shocked to hear of her arrest. Ms. Saberi's parents flew to Tehran last week and met with their daughter in jail on Monday, according to her attorney. She was in better spirits, eating and exercising and was allowed to watch television and read books.

Her parents have appealed for her release to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, who is the only person in Iran possessing the power to pardon prisoners.
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Give Me Blogging, or Give Me Death!

I know my blog is really offensive, but I hope it doesn't constitute the death penalty. Oh well, until blogging do we part!
Rees

The number of state-sanctioned executions almost doubled last year. A report by Amnesty International shows Iran, Saudi Arabia and China as being responsible for 90 per cent of all executions in 2008.

Now, Iran is proposing a new law that could see the death sentence imposed on internet bloggers who post offensive material on the web. (in Iran, offensive will mean whatever the government wants it to mean)

Al Jazeera's Nazanin Sadri reports.

Obama's Mistaken Persian Gambit

This is an excellent article.
Rees

from Joshua Pundit
by Rob Miller
Monday, March 23, 2009



As you all know by now, President Obama broadcast an extraordinarily video to the government and the people of Iran, ostensibly in honor of Nahruz, the Persian New year, which is celebrated annually at the spring equinox:

I avoided writing about this thus far because I wanted to see the reaction...both from the Mullahs and from several other players in the region.

The extraordinary spectacle of the president of the United States, a nation Iran has considered itself in a state of war with for thirty years grovelling in this fashion shows that President Obama has absolutely no clue as to how to deal with these people.

In particular, it's noteworthy that this was addressed not only to the Iranian people, but to the regime.He specifically referred to Iran as an Islamic Republic and called for it to 'take it's rightful place among th4e nations of the world.'

The mullahcracy of Iran is a brutal, totalitarian regime that cheerfully hangs homosexuals, beats women on the streets who the basij , the regime's brown shirts, feel are immodestly dressed and `uppity', and leads the world in juvenile executions. Torture and beatings in secret prisons are the norm.

They train, support and finance terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, who like Iran are officially committed to annihilating Israel, teaching children the glories of 'martyrdom' and in the case of Hamas and Hezbollah, committing genocide against Jews world wide.

And they've been in a declared war for thirty years against the 'Great Satan' - that would be America - that has included targeting America servicemen and civilians over the years, including the bombing of a marine barracks in Beirut that cost 240 lives, the torture murder of Colonel William Buckley, the abduction and execution style killings of four American officers and arming and training our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not only is Obama prepared to ignore all that, but he's also apparently prepared to allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, and expressly took any forceful response off the table stating that the US was 'fully committed to a diplomatic solution'.

Obama in his video talked a great deal about our “common humanity,” and made a point of discounting dismissed “those who insist we be defined by our differences..”

There are striking resemblances to a speech made a long time ago by another world leader attempting to placate a militant dictatorship : “We are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace… “ That was British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, when he returned from Munich in 1938 — in the statement Chamberlain made that promised “peace for our time.”

The Iranian response was swift and fairly predictable, as Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran responded:

Khamenei set the bar impossibly high, demanding an overhaul of U.S. foreign policy, including giving up "unconditional support" for Israel and halting claims that Iran is seeking nuclear arms. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful energy purposes.

"Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials?" Khamenei said in a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad. The crowd chanted "Death to America."

"He (Obama) insulted the Islamic Republic of Iran from the first day. If you are right that change has come, where is that change? What is the sign of that change? Make it clear for us what has changed..

"Still, Khamenei left the door open to better ties with America, saying "should you change, our behavior will change, too."

This is far from a kiss off, by the way. There would be absolutely no value in that for Iran. Khamenei is using a classic Persian bazaari gambit of tossing the first offer to do business back at Obama and in essence asking him how far Obama is prepared to go to make a deal.

What the Mullahs want at the very least is to eat up additional time in 'negotiations' to allow them to finish nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Once that's done, the regime is going to be solidly in place, with the ability to black mail the west by threatening to shut off Persian Gulf oil at any time.
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Iran sets terms for U.S. ties - This is what Obama gets for appearing weak. Wait until Russia, China, North Korea and Venequela get done with him

Sun Mar 22, 2009
By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has responded to U.S. President Barack Obama's offer of better relations by demanding policy changes from Washington, but the Islamic state is not closing the door to a possible thaw in ties with its old foe.

Iran wants the United States to show concrete change in its behavior toward it, for example by handing back frozen assets, but Tehran is not pursuing "eternal hostility," said Professor Mohammad Marandi at Tehran University.

But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, also added in his speech at Iran's most prominent religious shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad: "You change, our behavior will change."

But Khamenei made clear more than a change in U.S. rhetoric was needed, saying the United States was "hated in the world" and should stop interfering in other countries.

He also spoke of "oppressive sanctions" imposed on the Islamic Republic, Iranian assets frozen in the United States and Washington's backing of Israel, which Tehran does not recognize.
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Obama's 'Smart Diplomacy' is turning out to be 'Egg-on-Obama's Face' Diplomacy

Iranians React Warmly to Obama Video, Chant 'Death to America'

In case you missed it, in between making basketball picks, yukking it up with Jay Leno and insulting Special Olympians, the clueless Barack Obama sent a video greeting to Iranians the other day (just imagine if he was so gracious to Republicans).

Naturally, the Iranians greeted his pandering with contempt.

Khamenei enumerated a long list of Iranian grievances against the United States over the past 30 years and said the U.S. was still interfering in Iranian affairs.

He mentioned U.S. sanctions against Iran, U.S. support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980-88 war against Iran and the downing of an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf in 1988.

He also accused the U.S. of provoking ethnic tension in Iran and said Washington's accusations that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons are a sign of U.S. hostility. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, like energy production, not for building weapons.

"Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials? Have you given up your unconditional support for the Zionist regime? Even the language remains unchanged," Khamenei said.

Khamenei, wearing a black turban and dark robes, said America was hated around the world for its arrogance, as the crowd chanted "Death to America."

Yup, that really worked out well.

Reader Dan Friedman delivers the snark.

Asked for the White House reaction, spokesman Robert Gibbs said, “The President welcomes Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s positive response to our recent YouTube video. This is just that canny rug salesman's way of playing hard to get. The President will have more to say when he guest-hosts the Colbert Report this Wednesday night, 8 Central, 9 Eastern”.

Ouch.
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