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| Iraq |
| U.S. says five detained Iranians have no diplomatic status |
| 2007-01-13 |
| (Xinhua) -- The United States said on Friday that the five Iranians who were detained by U.S.-led forces in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, had no official diplomatic status. The "individuals, who were detained were not carrying diplomatic passports, had regular passports. And this was not a consulate. This was not an officially accredited diplomatic facility," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. The building where the five Iranians were arrested was a "building that the Iranians were using, occupying, that was Iraqi territory," McCormack said. Failing to provide any more details, the spokesman insisted that the building "was not quote, unquote, the 'Iranian consulate.'" Iran said U.S. forces raided the Iranian consulate in Iraq's northern city of Arbil and arrested five of its staff members. The Iranian Embassy in Baghdad sent a letter to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry Thursday to protest against "the U.S. illegal move" and called on the Iraqi government to help secure immediate release of the five people. The United States has been accusing Iran of supporting attacks on American troops in Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday that the United States will not "stand idly by" if Iran tries to disrupt Washington's renewed effort to stabilize Iraq. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Hmmmm...what's the penalty for enemy aliens (as defined by the State Department's List of Terrorist Sponsering Nations aka the T-5 countries - Iran, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea, Syria) discovered operating in a war zone against the interests of both the occupying power and the sovereign state? |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-01-13 17:33 |
| #4 There is nothing illegal about it. |
| Posted by: newc 2007-01-13 13:19 |
| #3 Yep, Mike. You know the rhetoric has to be racheted up before we pounce and kick the shit out of the Mullahs. The fact that it's starting is significant. |
| Posted by: SpecOp35 2007-01-13 12:32 |
| #2 Mike http://regimechangeiniran.com/2007/01/ahmadinejads-chief-strategic-g/ Claim is that we scooped up the top Iranian big brain in tactics to challenge the Anglo alliance as he calls it. US Hassan Abbasi If that turns out to be true we just captured and need to interrogate out of this jihadi the entire Iranian action plan against US. HUGE cannot even begin to describe the value of this guy upside down on a water board. This article tells me we are not going to choke like last time and release these guys. The value is just to much to let go. |
| Posted by: C-Low 2007-01-13 12:30 |
| #1 I really think the administration did this on purpose so they can highlite Iranian involvement. They could have just blown the place up and never said anything. The heads might still be talking about this on Sunday morning. As they should be. I hope they change the ROEs they use against the press too. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-01-13 00:32 |