U.S. Refuses to Free 5 Captured Iranians Until at Least October

[BurtWorm]

Trying to hold them hostage?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062001456.html?hpid=moreheadlines

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A20

The United States will not release five Iranians detained in a U.S. military raid in northern Iraq until at least October, despite entreaties from the Iraqi government and pressure from Iran, U.S. officials said. The delay is as much due to a communication and procedural foul-up within the U.S. government as a policy decision, they added.

During his Washington visit this week, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari appealed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to free the Iranians, who were arrested in Irbil in January, U.S. and Arab officials said.

Zebari told U.S. officials that the release would help the new U.S.-Iran dialogue on Iraq, which brought diplomats from the two nations together last month in Baghdad at their first public meeting in almost three decades. Iran has become pivotal to U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq because Tehran exerts great influence in Iraq with a wide cross-section of parties and has armed and trained many militant groups. Zebari also warned that Tehran might not attend a second session unless the Iranians are released, the sources said.< [br />
...


They were originally due for review six months after their detention -- or by mid-July. Instead, the Multinational Force headquarters reviewed their status in April, meaning they are not eligible for another review until October, U.S. officials said. Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker were unaware that a review had occurred until last week, the officials noted.

...

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned June 13 that the United States would face consequences for its January raid. "We will make the U.S. regret its repulsive, illegal action against Iran's consulate and its officials," Mottaki told reporters in Tehran.

...

[BurtWorm]

1. Wow, that sank really fast.

:kick:

[IChing]

2. The funding for the Surge goes to September 30th

October is when they can be reviewed? Something is amiss.

[Strelnikov_]

3. Soviet Union had nothing on the Reich's governmental bureaucracy

Like they couldn't be released tomorrow if a Reich oligarch decided it was in the Reich's best interest.


Zee papers, you must haf zee papers.

[BurtWorm]

4. kick