Comments on: NY Sun: White House helped free Iranian diplomat

By: Cialis.

Cialis. — Sat, 12 May 2007 08:21:29 +0000

Cialis….

Cialis….

By: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Good news: Quds Force members captured at Irbil might be released soon

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:35:00 +0000

[...] Another scoop for the Sun, which broke the story a few days ago about the White House having helped secure the release of the Iranian diplomat as part of a de facto prisoner swap for the sailors. Obviously, Eli Lake has a source on the inside who’s not happy with what Bush is doing here. And rightly so. [...]

By: honora

honora — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:17:55 +0000

On the news this morning, the UK sailors were given goody bag, a la the Oscars, as a send off gift.

Things are too weird for me. I think I’ll look into that hermit idea.

By: Zorro

Zorro — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:53:42 +0000

In this long war, we are going to win some battles and lose some

I’m sorry you can’t use the phrase “long war” anymore…

BadBrad on April 5, 2007 at 12:39 PM

I don’t know what I was thinking, I may have been distracted by General Pelosi’s head scarf… yikes!

By: BadBrad

BadBrad — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:39:42 +0000

In this long war, we are going to win some battles and lose some

I’m sorry you can’t use the phrase “long war” anymore…

By: crosspatch

crosspatch — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:25:12 +0000

I don’t see how this is any great victory for Iran. Not a single country stood with them. They were able to amass a total of what, 200 protesters at the British embassy so their own citizens weren’t eager to get on the bandwagon. Other than some obscure “diplomat” that both the US and Iraq say wasn’t under their control (but we apparently had access to for questioning?) was set free (was he really being held by the British … was that the reason for all of this?).

Iran got several million dollars from increased oil prices but other than that, pretty much nothing and they reinforced their position as a reckless country with a reckless government that resorts to state sponsored kidnapping to get their way. Again exposing themselves as criminals running a country, they have not done a thing to advance their cause in the world.

Add on top of that the fact that they apparently backed down in the face of a British 48-hour ultimatum, and the Iranians look weak indeed. In this case the world can see Western restraint as just that. Restraint in the face of a criminal government of Iran. The problem is that government is holding their entire population hostage.

Now it should be Venezuela’s turn to get back in the spotlight. I have noticed that it sort of works that way these days. thHugo is going to do something in the next week or so to get the buzz going and keep oil prices up if they should drop below $60 a barrel.

By: Kokonut

Kokonut — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:10:42 +0000

We spring Iranians for British soldiers who wouldn’t even fight back? But between Iraqis and American forces near the Iranian border on land fought back instead of surrendering?
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/03/30/time-mag-us-troops-killed-iranian-soldier-in-firefight-last-year/

By: docob

docob — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:57:52 +0000

I knew I came here for laughs,

And thank you for providing us so many of them.

Your brand of knee-jerk, obtuse trollery is supremely laughable.

By: csdeven

csdeven — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:21:00 +0000

Am I the only one who gets the bigger picture? A few days ago, we were on the brink of entering into another long, vicious war in the Middle East that would have cost thousands of lives and taken years to sort out. As much as that would have perpetuated discussion in the blogosphere, a war against Iran could have had its downside as well.

John on April 5, 2007 at 7:44 AM

Hmmmm. That’s a good point. I guess I really never got to the point of considering all out war with Iran until the Brits exhausted many other options first. One of those senarios being Ollie Norths suggestion that Iranian ships carrying gasoline be stopped from delivering their cargo and the Iranians last refinery be put out of business.

By: Pilgrim

Pilgrim — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:44:03 +0000

I still think there was a hidden sword in this thing. Neither Blair or Bush could afford an overt threat to Iran. The Seattle\Portland “street” would be ablaze in indignation and the various barbarian fishwraps would have a field day. I don’t know what the deal is with Britain but I know the “subjects” over there aren’t too thrilled with Britain’s involvement in the GWoT. Any call for a military strike on Iran would’ve gotten ugly before the strike aircraft left their hangers.

The President said there would be no quid pro quo. I’ll take his word for it. Perhaps this diplocritter we released wasn’t as big and bad as we were made out to believe. Who knows. I’m pretty sure the truth will come out eventually.

By: The American Pundit » Blog Archive » Report: Whitehouse Helped Free Iranian Diplomat

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:37:54 +0000

[...] An exchange? Maybe not. The Independent reports that Tony Blair didn’t know about it, until it was announced in the press conference. Which, as Allah points out, might be worst. I want to collect a few more things on this, and will post more later, but wanted you to see this, now. [...]

By: Buzzy

Buzzy — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:36:49 +0000

I’m not George Bush’s biggest fan for several reasons but IF he released Sharafi then I’ll assume that he had good reason given the much bigger picture available to him than to me.

By: amerpundit

amerpundit — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:31:32 +0000

You know, if Iran has been so kind, and such hospitable people, why did the sailors (literally) get on the first plane they could find?

By: amerpundit

amerpundit — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:29:41 +0000

Am I the only one who gets the bigger picture? A few days ago, we were on the brink of entering into another long, vicious war in the Middle East that would have cost thousands of lives and taken years to sort out. As much as that would have perpetuated discussion in the blogosphere, a war against Iran could have had its downside as well.

John on April 5, 2007 at 7:44 AM

No, John, you’re not the only one who caught that. And this would be just a dandy situation,if something had been solved. Iranians now think they can take hostages, and get something in return. Iran is still enriching uranium. It’s still defying S.C. Resolution after resolution. The insane guy is still as insane as ever.

It would still be nice to find a peaceful ending to this whole thing, though. Then I’d be happy.

By: amerpundit

amerpundit — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:24:53 +0000

Well if we’re talking about a capitulation to the mullahs, isn’t it better if Pelosi could be credited for it? The alternative is…disturbing.

Bryan on April 5, 2007 at 1:17 AM

Not necessarily. The Democrats basically want the US to do that anyway. Look at Pelosi. She’s meeting with a state sponsor of terror, holding hands with a member of Hezbollah, and giving the wrong message to Syria.

If the Dems want this, Bush should get credit for it. The only one who his image would be hurt amongst would be the Republicans, and it will be a softer landing there.

By: lynnv

lynnv — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 12:08:16 +0000

I thought that our stance was “we do not give in to terrorists”. Everyone in Iran is a friggin terrorist as far as I’m concerned and should be dealt with accordingly or we are finished here in the West. Time to remove heads from arses and see the big picture. Putting it bluntly, the future is looking bleak unless we level Tehran and all the Iranian terrorists living there. Period.

By: John

John — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:44:27 +0000

Am I the only one who gets the bigger picture? A few days ago, we were on the brink of entering into another long, vicious war in the Middle East that would have cost thousands of lives and taken years to sort out. As much as that would have perpetuated discussion in the blogosphere, a war against Iran could have had its downside as well.

By: Zorro

Zorro — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:54:07 +0000

In this long war, we are going to win some battles and lose some. If Bush did this to help the British in some way, we may get something in return from them. If we get nothing in return, then it’s a loss.

On the other hand, with the “defectors” in hand, we may not need the little fish any longer.

By: DannoJyd

DannoJyd — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:04:32 +0000

Perhaps we got everything we needed from Jalal Sharafi and decided to show we can be generous?

I don’t see this as being a big deal.

By: crosspatch

crosspatch — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:02:19 +0000

Sure, just as soon as that Ferengi is no longer President of Iran.

By: Free Constitution

Free Constitution — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:18:08 +0000

Good Gawd, back to realism. Supporting terrorists who just happen to be against the Iranian regime, now capitulation. Iran now makes the decisions in US foreign policy: they act, we react -shamefully.
What’s next, another Nixonesque trip to Iran to formalize relations?

By: RightWinged

RightWinged — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 08:01:20 +0000

Lurking Cheney, please weigh in

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/04/keith-richardss-manager-he-didnt-really-snort-his-father/

By: crosspatch

crosspatch — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:09:08 +0000

“But the kidnapping was an attempt to get the Irbil 5 back.”

I don’t think so. I think the kidnapping was an attempt to rekindle the Spirit of ’79 in Iran. When they could only manage 200 demonstrators at the British Embassy, they pretty much saw the writing on the wall. It wasn’t working. There were no huge spontaneous demonstrations as in 1979. At this point I think they began to realize there was really nothing in it for them aside from bumping up the price of oil a few bucks.

By: crosspatch

crosspatch — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:05:39 +0000

A little off topic, but speaking of Al Gore … does anyone know of an additive that would make a gasoline or diesel generator (or vehicle for that matter) emit green smoke?

By: PinkyBigglesworth

PinkyBigglesworth — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 06:48:51 +0000

Do you think the returning Brits will contact Simon for a spot on American Idol? Or is a series already in production?

Anyone want to buy “Hostage Offsets”?

(I know, bad taste, serious stuff and all, but this just makes me want to get back into the “Vomit Bucket” business)

Follow up question, why does Iran still have their one (1) gasoline refining plant? Why are they still smiling? Why are they not back in the stone age? Don’t blame it on oil, if Al Gore can survive on “Green Energy”, we all can…..