Ahmadinejad has announced his “gift” of releasing the 15 British hostages. But somehow, amid all the hand waving and celebrating, they are still in Tehran — and instead of flying out on the day of their release, they are now expected to leave Thursday. So why the holdup?
Maybe Ahmadinejad wants to have his tailors whip up a few more suits for the departing sailors, or maybe he had to fill out a whole stack of Iranian hostage-crisis paperwork — But whatever the official reasons, here’s the effect:
The news is breaking today, and officials in London and Washington, along with the families, friends and colleagues of the hostages, are being asked to comment right now. The hostages are, in theory, free. But as long as they are still in Iran, there has to be that lingering worry about uttering anything that might cause a hitch — anything truly blunt, honest and potentially disagreeable to those twitchy, terrorist-backing kidnappers ruling Iran. And so, instead of complete howling outrage from the Free World – which is what we ought to be hearing — this episode is now subsiding into a welter of cautious thanks and gratified comments. That’s what the record will now show. This is a hostage-politics coda that already sounds like prelude to the next crisis.
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
3 Comments
1. Brian:I’m struck by how quintessentially KGB-like this whole event has been. Conjure a crisis out of thin air, create it, milk the uncertainty and fear that attends it, then solve the problem, to the relief and gratitude of all concerned . . .
Gee — when you consider how far out of hand this crisis could have gotten, we really have to appreciate the good intentions of the peace-loving, temperate and kind-to-hostages Iranians.
Call me a cynic, but the only thing worse than the transparency of this whole fiasco is that civilized people seem to be focussing more on the generosity of those wonderful Iranians than the fact that this whole sick episode was of their making.
Apr 4, 2007 - 7:18 pm 2. Brian:And another thing — my skin crawled at the sight of the fawning, post-modern “warriors” of the Royal Navy, who coouldn’t have performed better for the Iranian propaganda machine if they’d been practicing their parts for 30 years.
Oh wait . . . they grew up in a post-modern western culture! They have been practicing for 30 years!
Apr 4, 2007 - 7:31 pm 3. Ritchie Emmons:I agree fully with Brian. I found it almost comical how the Iranians a few days ago “wanted to solve this crisis.” Really? Then release the hostages!! I don’t pine for war, but I would just once love to see Iran overplay their hand and get punished mightily for it. If the Brits bombed their nuclear facilities into oblivion or destroyed their oil producing capabilties, I’d have a smile on my face for a month (and would gladly pay $7 a gallon).
Naturally, I’m not looking beyond the immediate satisfaction of seeing the mullahs realizing they stepped too far and are terrorized because of it. Unfortunately, Brian is right – the West has become too soft and thus allows itself to be bullied by a lesser Iran. All this appeasement will likely lead to a conflict as Iran gets emboldened. I figure Israel will have to make a stand before too long. When it does, I imagine the conflict won’t be as “calm” as the recent Israel/Hezbollah dust-up last year.
Apr 4, 2007 - 9:18 pm