Ahmadinejad Uses Captured American Hikers As Bargaining Tool

Iran Floats Prisoner Swap For U.S. Hikers


Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday proposed a swap of Iranians in U.S. prisons for three American hikers being held in Tehran.

Ahmadinejad said in interview with state TV that there were ongoing negotiations about exchanging the hikers for several Iranians jailed for years in the United States.

"There are some talks under way to have an exchange, if it is possible," he said. "Recently they (the U.S.) have sent messages, we answered to bring them (the Iranians), to bring these people (the hikers). We are hopeful that all prisoners will be released."

Ahmadinejad did not mention any specifics but in December Iran released a list of 11 Iranians it says are being held in the U.S. — including a nuclear scientist who disappeared in Saudi Arabia and a former Defense Ministry official who vanished in Turkey. The list also includes an Iranian arrested in Canada on charges of trying to obtain nuclear technology.

"I had said I would help in releasing them, but the attitude of some of U.S. officials damages the job," said Ahmadinejad. "There are a large number of Iranians in prison in the U.S. They have abducted some of our citizens in other countries."

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were hiking in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region in July when they accidentally crossed the border into Iran, their families have said.

Samantha Topping, a New York City-based spokeswoman for the three families, said they had no comment on Ahmadinejad's remarks.

Cautious U.S. Response

The U.S. State Department responded cautiously.

"We have made clear that what we want is consular access to our citizens in Iranian custody. If President Ahmadinejad's comments suggest that they are prepared to grant us access through the Swiss and resolve the cases of the three hikers and other Americans in custody, we would welcome that step," State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

Iran's foreign minister said in late December that the three would be tried in court, but he did not say when a trial would begin or what the three would be charged with other than to say they had "suspicious aims." Earlier, the country's chief prosecutor said they were accused of spying.

Their families have said that's ludicrous and last month hired an Iranian attorney to press the case.

Ahmadinejad said there were "indications they knew they were crossing into Iran."

The last time anyone sympathetic saw the three was at the end of October, when Swiss diplomats were granted a short visit. The U.S. has no diplomatic relationship with Iran and is represented in such matters by the Swiss. At the time, the diplomats said the three were in good health.

Their jailing comes amid continued tension between the U.S. and Iran over that nation's nuclear program.

When the list of 11 Iranians came out State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it appeared the Iranian government was trying to suggest some kind of equivalence between the hikers and Iranians that had left Iran.

"There really is no equivalence at all," he said at the time.

Three of the Iranians on the list have been convicted or charged in public court proceedings in the United States. The circumstances surrounding some of the others are more mysterious.

Ali Reza Asgari, a retired general in the elite Revolutionary Guard and a former deputy defense minister, disappeared while on a private trip to Turkey in December 2006.

Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist, went missing while on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in June. Iran's foreign minister has accused the U.S. of helping to kidnap him and has asked for his return.

The list also includes three Iranians who Tehran claims were abducted in Europe and sent to the U.S.: merchant Mohsen Afrasiabi, who it says disappeared in Germany, as well as electrical engineering student Majid Kakavand and a former ambassador to Jordan, Nasrollah Tajik, who it says vanished in France.

French media have reported that Kakavand was arrested in March at the request of the U.S. on suspicion he obtained electronic equipment. He was jailed, then moved to house arrest on Aug. 27. The French press has reported that Tajik went missing in Britain.

Three of the Iranians Tehran is asking about have faced public legal proceedings in the U.S.

One of them, Baktash Fattahi, is a legal U.S. resident. He was arrested in April in California and charged with conspiracy to export American-made military aircraft parts to Iran.

Another, Amir Amirnazmi, is a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who was convicted by a court in Pennsylvania in February of business dealings with Iranian companies banned under U.S. sanctions.

Amir Hossein Ardebili was sentenced to five years in prison on Dec. 14 by a court in Wilmington, Delaware, after pleading guilty to plotting to ship U.S. military technology to Iran. Iran has called it a show trial and said Ardebili was abducted in the former Soviet republic of Georgia in 2007 before being handed over to U.S. authorities in 2008.

One of the other Iranians, Mahmoud Yadegari, was arrested in April in Canada after a joint investigation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and charged with trying to send nuclear technology to his native Iran.

Authorities allege Yadegari tried to procure and export pressure transducers, which can be used in the production of enriched uranium but also have many legitimate commercial uses.

The other two Iranians on the list are Amir-Shahrzad Amir-Qolikhani and Hassan Saeid Kashari. Iran gave no information about them other than to say they are being held in the U.S. without charge.


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Sources: MSNBC, CNN, Youtube, Google Maps

Taliban Ridicules U.S., Calls Afghan War "Our Next Vietnam"

Taliban Issues Video Of Captive U.S. Soldier; "Our Next Vietnam"


The Taliban on Friday issued a new video tape of a captured American soldier ridiculing the war in Afghanistan as "our next Vietnam," a move the U.S. military condemned as a cruel piece of Christmas Day propaganda.

The parents of Idaho National Guard Private Bowe Bergdahl, who was taken prisoner in Afghanistan this summer and is the only known U.S. soldier in captivity there, issued an appeal for his release and urged their son to "stay strong."

Bergdahl, whose identity was confirmed by his family, appears in the video wearing sunglasses and a U.S. military-style uniform, including a military helmet.

He gives his name, hometown and other personal details before saying he is a prisoner of war of the Taliban. It is not clear when the video, the second of him released since his capture, was made.

He goes on to attack U.S. leaders for their treatment of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan and warns that the U.S. military is no match for the Taliban.

"I'm afraid to tell you that this war has slipped from our fingers and it's just going to be our next Vietnam unless the American people stand up and stop all this nonsense," he says.

But a military spokesman said the statements should be considered coerced, and condemned the timing of its release.

"This is a horrible act which exploits a young soldier, who was clearly compelled to read a prepared statement. It reflects nothing more than the violent, deceitful tactics of the Taliban insurgency," said U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, director of communication, with NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

"To release this video on Christmas Day is an affront to the deeply-concerned family and friends of Bowe Bergdahl, demonstrating contempt for religious traditions and the teachings of Islam. We will continue our search for Bowe Bergdahl," he said in a written statement.

"STAY STRONG"

Bergdahl's parents, who live near the central Idaho town of Hailey, just south of the upscale Sun Valley ski resort, were notified of the video on Friday, said Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Marsano of the Idaho National Guard.

"The Bergdahl family pleads with the captors to let our only son come home," his parents said in a brief statement issued on their behalf by Marsano. They added: "To Bowe: we love you and we believe in you. Stay strong."

The parents, who Marsano declined to further identify, were unable to view the video for themselves because of a major power outage that left them without television or Internet service on Friday. They spoke instead with a relative elsewhere in the state who had seen it, and it was described to them.

In the video, Bergdahl tells his fellow soldiers they are facing a well-organized and patient enemy -- perhaps a reference to a statement made by the White House last month saying the United States would not be in Afghanistan in nine years' time.

"To all you soldiers out there who are getting ready to come over here for the first time because of the stupidity of our country and leaders ... you are fighting very smart people who know exactly how to kill us and are extremely patient."

A spokesman for the Taliban also urged the U.S. government in the video to make a prisoner swap deal for Bergdahl.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has demanded and still demands release of a limited number of prisoners in exchange for this American prisoner, Bowe Robert Bergdahl."

The soldier, who was 23 when he was captured by the Taliban in southeastern Afghanistan in late June, was in good health, Zabihullah Mujahid said.

He appeared healthy and said he had been well-treated, contrasting his fate to that of prisoners held in U.S. military prisons, including the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"I bear witness I was continuously treated as a human being, with dignity, and I had nobody deprive me of my clothes and take pictures of me naked. I had no dogs barking at me or biting me as my country has done to their Muslim prisoners in the jails that I have mentioned," the man said.

In July, Bergdahl appeared in a video urging the U.S. government to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, which was denounced by the Pentagon as Taliban propaganda that violated international law.

The capture and detention of the soldier comes amid the bloodiest period in Afghanistan since the Taliban's ouster by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

In a bid to quell mounting violence, Washington has begun the gradual dispatch of some 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, with plans to start pulling them out in July 2011.

There are about 110,000 foreign troops, more than half of them Americans, fighting the militants.



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Sources: Reuters, Google Maps