I'm curious about "hiking in Iran"

Bigfuzzydoug - 2010-09-15 10:25 AM So yay, Sarah Shourd has been freed from jail.  That's good.



... But one thing has been bugging me since the three were first arrested.  A question that I never seem to have ever seen the answer to.  Maybe COJ knows...

What the fark were they doing hiking along the Iraq-Iran border to begin with?!

Who chooses to hike in one of the most dangerous and politically contested areas in the world?  I would think Iranian authorities would be the LEAST of their concerns.  Armed insurgents, bandits, drug smugglers...  There's probably a whole host of reasons not to be hiking in that area.  It's like saying, "let's go camping in south-central LA or Helmand Province, Afghanistan."  Did they live there?  I could think of a thousand other places on this planet that would be a better place to hike.

I hate to say it - but for that reason alone, I could see why Iranian security people could be suspicious that they could be spies.  Who would be in a place like that "hiking"?

Bigfuzzydoug - 2010-09-15 10:15 AM

I'm not hating on America here, but...

I'm also curious as to how the mainstream US media is handling this.  Liberal (MSNBC, CNN) and conservative (Fox) media outlets call them "hikers" and talk in their reporting, implying that they're being unjustly held and the Iranian regime is the "bad guy" in all this.

Let's say a trio of Venezuelan "hikers" were hiking along the Rio Grande River and found themselves on the US-side of the border.  They're picked up by the US border patrol/INS and held in detention for 14 months awaiting legal status and/or criminal charges for drug smuggling or spying.  And this story is different because...

It just feels like our media is avoiding this one big question:  Why the fark were they there to begin with?!

mrbbrad - 2010-09-15 11:04 AM

That is the very first thought I had when I first heard the story on the new. Hiking? In Iran? What, the Appalachian trail's not good enough for you?

Renee - 2010-09-15 11:27 AM

Not everyone likes South America.

mrbbrad - 2010-09-15 11:30 AM

If that's a joke, it's way too subtle for me

Renee - 2010-09-15 11:33 AM

Sorry. But if I explain the joke, it just won't be funny for the rest of us.

(Connect the dots from the AT .... a specific country in SA.)

zed707 - 2010-09-15 11:44 AM

I think they're just stupid hikers, not spies. I mean really, what kind of intelligence could they gather hiking around in the middle of nowhere that our satellites couldn't already pick up?

MultisportMinistries - 2010-09-14 12:00 PM I saw Spies Like Us with Chevy Chase and have decided that they may be spies, and not even know it.

moondawg14 - 2010-09-15 12:12 PM

Agreed.  The "real" GLG-20s are  out there somewhere.

   

gearboy - 2010-09-15 9:24 AM I think they were just being stupid and narcissistic in their approach to the world - "I'm young and American! What bad things could POSSIBLY happen to me?"

I think it is always important to look at the little details.  There was recently a tragedy locally where a 15 year old was beaten and shot to death for his sneakers by a couple of 19 year olds.  While I don't condone their actions, I had to wonder why the 15 year old (and his two friends) were walking around at 1:30 in the morning on a school night.  In a town with (a) significant violence - drugs and gangs mostly; and (b) a curfew for adolescents of 10 or 11 PM.  To me, the focus on Iran holding those kids for the last year is the same kind of thing - overlooking the obvious question "What were you doing THERE at THAT time?"

jdwright56 - 2010-09-16 12:12 AM

Renee is right.  These people are Operators. 

Believe me, this is one thing I know about. 

The difference is that Operators cary out tasks like placing things in areas that they are wanted or eliminating things from those areas. 

Spies observe and report.  Don't believe everything you read or see on TV.  There is no Jason Bourne.