In an interview with the Washington Post, Iran’s
president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad promised
a pardon for the two American hikers, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal,
who have been imprisoned in Iran on charges of espionage for the
past two years.
He’s promised their release in “a couple of days.” Of course,
given the religious atmospherics at play in Iran, his decision
could be overturned the cabal of Shi’a clerics gathered around
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
According to their attorney, the plan is to release them from
Tehran’s Evin prison after a $500,000 bail is paid for each of
them. The attorney said the hikers’ families are attempting to get
the money.
Let’s not forget that these two have been imprisoned in Iran for
over two years. They were seized with a third hiker, Sarah Shourd,
back on July 31, 2009, while hiking in the Kurdish region of
northern Iraq. Iranian authorities arrested them, after they
apparently strayed across an unmarked border, claiming they were
spies and had entered the country illegally.
Ahmadinejad took the opportunity to pat himself on the back —
he described his planned pardon as a “unilateral humanitarian
gesture.” However, he remained cagey as to their actual date of
departure. When questioned whether the prisoners would definitely
be released this week, he said, “I hope so. I hope I will do
that.”
Of course, this came after the part of the interview when he
described the comfort level in Iranian prison to that of a nice
hotel. Sure.
For my money there isn’t a worse liar on the international stage
than Ahmedinejad.
Off the top of my head, he’s denied the Holocaust, while
defending the “freedom of the press.” He’s actually mentioned some
30 opposition newspapers currently in circulation. And no gay
people. Or drug abusers. According to this lunatic, there are 30
more opposition newspapers than gay people or drug abusers. I’d say
that’s unlikely.
And this is the banal stuff — I’m not even touching on the “we
love all nations” versus. “death to America/England/Israel/insert
liberal democracy here” nonsense he’s been spewing since he seized
office in 2005. Ahmadinejad claimed that there was no crackdown in
Iran against the opposition and that the people in his country
enjoyed complete freedom. He’s said their nuclear ambitions are
peaceful, while threatening “war without limits.” They hold enough
enriched uranium to construct three nuclear weapons, yet have
resisted four iterations of UN sanctions meant to temper their
ambitions.
Let’s hope for those two Americans’ sake that the man has a
shred of honesty in him. But moments like this do give pause
to wonder why the Obama administration still holds out hope
for a diplomatic solution to a problem-country led by the world’s
worst liar and his fanatical handlers.
