Former FBI Agent Reportedly Held by Iran
If this is true, Iran is playing with fire:
A former FBI agent is being held by Iranian authorities, the Financial Times reported on Friday, but U.S. officials said they were still unable to verify the whereabouts of the missing American.
Florida resident and ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson went missing while on a visit to the Gulf island of Kish in Iran early in March. His family has not heard from him since and U.S. officials told Reuters they do not have any valid leads.
Diplomats fear the case of Levinson could mark a new twist in apparent tit-for-tat detentions involving the United States, Britain and Iran, which began with the detention by U.S. forces in Iraq of five Iranians in January and the capture of 15 British sailors by Iran who were freed last week.
Now, one must remember that the Pentagon offered to carry out airstrikes against Iranian targets when Iran had kidnapped 15 British sailors and marines. For now, Iran pretends / says that it doesn’t know what happened to Levinson.
If the U.S. finds out more about Levinson’s whereabouts and if Iran truly has him, it seems to me that Iran would better release Levinson asap. America is not Britain. Bush is not Blair.
H/t Holly
14 Responses to “Former FBI Agent Reportedly Held by Iran”
This is not exactly a new story. It’s a few days old.
Either way, I’m not inclined to believe anything propaganda that comes from Washington or Tehran. Especially when we know that Bush & Co. are looking for an excuse to attack Iran and while Iran is trying to make America/Britain look weak.
If, If, If, If, If!
Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire!
This story is a great example of why most people on the planet think that the US & Britain are making the world a more dangerous place. Once you start acting a certain way to protect your interests it’s naive to believe others won’t soon follow suit. One must remember the first four words of MVDG post and wait for some REAL facts before launching a war over a missing person.
I don’t think Iran is playing with fire. More like playing with chumps. Iran pays our leadership like a well tuned fiddle. Besides, its really hard to believe this guy isn’t a spy.
The story is thin. He went to make a film. Who went with him? Surely he didn’t expect to make a film alone. So if people went with him, where are they and what do they have to say about this?
The Iranians are ruthless pricks, but, well he was in Iran of his own volition.
I’m not going to jump on any “He’s a spy!” bandwagon, but I find it highly improbable that an American citizen not of Persian/Iranian ancestry would go to Iran in March – whether it was to make a film, or tourism, or whatever. Just not a prudent thing to do at that time.
That doesn’t mean I don’t want him to be safe and back in the U.S., but neither am I ready to express outrage over his disappearance, he put himself into a highly volatile situation knowing our relations with Iran were severely deteriorated.
I wonder if the condemnation of Iran coming from certain quarters would be as strong if it were, say Sean Penn who went to Iran and disappeared. I suspect it woud be a lot of “well he was stupid for going in the first place, now he needs to take personal responsibility for his actions…”
Bush is not Blair…. true… Blair is much much much smarter. And if Bush the Decider does order airstrikes against Iran… do you think they will sit still and just “take it”? hmmm…? hardly… we have a lot of soldiers real real close to Iran’s sphere of influence and they have long supply lines through Shiite territory that are very vulnurable. And lets not forget our dependence on Middle East oil that can be severly impacted by Iran should they decide to do so.
You war hawks should have learned your lesson but apparently you have not. Being more powerful doesn’t mean you always have the upper hand. Bush would be playing with fire is he took military action againt Iran…
Corvus said:
> This story is a great example
> of why most people on the
> planet think that the US &
> Britain are making the world
> a more dangerous place.
You are illogical, and worse than that … aren’t crows supposed to be clever?
Chris, looking at sources first might limit the chinks befalling your conspiracy theory…….Reuters via Financial Times. Now, if indeed Reuters has been co-opted by Bush & Co, there are 3-4 years of anti-war releases that are going to lose credibility.
I am struggling with where there is an iota of anyone saying “bomb Iran” preceding this comment.?
Talk about a tendency for knee-jerk, pre-emptive strikes! LOL!
While Chris says many a wrong thing, he didn’t this time. This story is old. And in fact, one can ask legitimately what that former FBI agent was doing in Iran. (Why so long for the administration to speak out on this?)
As to Iran’s holding him, if he is innocent, Iran is indeed playing with fire, not just being scummy again.
I said:
Either way, I’m not inclined to believe anything propaganda that comes from Washington or Tehran.
sorry… meant to say:
Either way, I’m not inclined to believe *any of the* propaganda that comes from Washington or Tehran.
Not sure what conspiracy you’re referring to?
DLS
Crows are very clever, some can even tell the difference when a farmer comes out of his barn with a gun and when he comes out with a long stick. Polling data from people’s outside the US tend to support my opinion even if you don’t. Your media doesn’t really like to deal with that issue but it’s out there…….believe it or not.
Any hostage situation similar to what happened to great Britain will turn out quite differently here. The Reagan Democrats are not dead yet.
As Victor Davis Hanson said, Iran obviously wants to be bombed.
Anyway, this shows once again that appeasement only results in the escalation of aggression by dictators and terrorists.
Fire! Fire! Fire! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb!
- while our kids are being chewed up in Iraq?
- while Bush is sending them to Iraq without enough training, without enough equipment?
- while he’s sending troops back into battle with head injuries, amputations, and other serious wounds?
And now you want to start another war, with a country that’s better able to put up a fight than Iraq was?
And I don’t see any of you warhounds shakin’ your booties down to a recruiting center.
[edited: no name calling allowed]