Yesterday, freed American hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal returned to U.S soil accompanied by Sarah Shourd who was also held captive in Iran with them until she was freed a year ago.
Both Bauer and Fattal strongly condemned the Iranian regime and said they had been held hostage.
Bauer went on to say that it was ironic they had been taken captive because “Sarah, Josh and I oppose U.S. policies towards Iran which perpetuate this hostility.”
But therein lies the problem. Iran makes no distinction between Americans who attend Berkeley and those who attend Bob Jones University. They make no distinction between Americans who write for The Nation and Americans who write for The American Spectator. They don’t care if you like or dislike President Obama. Nor do they care if you are critical of U.S. foreign policy towards Iran. For that matter, Iran makes no distinction between the Bush Administration who didn’t view them as legitimate and the Obama Administration which sought to curry favor with them. To the Iranian regime, as with al Qaeda, all Americans are infidels. Short of converting to Islam and submitting to their way of life nothing will change that attitude.
If Bauer doesn’t understand that by now then he probably never will.