Iran demands U.S. free arrested "diplomats" in Iraq

[sabra]

http://in.today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-01-15T072154Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-283592-1.xml

Iran demands U.S. free arrested "diplomats" in Iraq

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is demanding the immediate release of five Iranians held by U.S. forces in Iraq, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday, adding that the five are diplomats.

...

"Americans should immediately release the five Iranians and pay compensation for the damages they caused to our office in Arbil," Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a weekly news conference, adding the five were "involved in consulate affairs."

"Their activities were legal and in the framework of law," Hosseini said when asked whether the five Iranians were members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking in Managua, Nicaragua, as part of a tour of Latin America, said the arrests were a misstep by the United States.

"The United States should look for the root of its problems somewhere else," he said. "This attitude will not resolve their problems. They want to cover up this failure (in Iraq) with other things ... They won't recover from this loss of credibility."

[heldmyw]

1. Why am I ....

...not too troubled about the loss of 'credibility' when it comes to Ahmadinejad.

He's not exactly the credibility poster child.

[Mika]

2. Because Bush is the decider?

:shrug:

[leftchick]

3. and the US has credibility?

at this point I side with The Kurds who say these iranians were invited into Iraq. The US has ZERO credibility!

[heldmyw]

5. Really?

I would LOVE to be able to cite that! You got a reference? Please!

[oblivious]

7. Iraqi Kurds Criticize U.S. Detention of Iranian Diplomats

U.S. forces detain 6 Iranian envoys
The raid on a consulate in Irbil upsets Kurdish officials. The White House has accused Iran of arming Shiite militias.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Times Staff Writer
January 12, 2007

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Kurds, among America's staunchest supporters, condemned the detention early Thursday of six Iranian diplomats during a raid by U.S. forces on the Iranian Consulate in the Kurdish city of Irbil.

The Kurdish president and the regional government released a statement calling for the release of the six. The U.S. military said one of the diplomats was freed.

"The U.S. action does not conform to the policy of attempting to spread security and stability throughout all of Iraq," the Kurdish statement said, adding that the raid was conducted without local approval.

"The people of the Kurdistan region protest against and reject this action, which violates our internal sovereignty," the statement said. "We do not accept that disputes with our neighboring countries should be brought onto our soil."
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-iraq12jan12,1,7183409.story

Iraqi Kurds Criticize U.S. Detention of Iranian Diplomats
http://www.aina.org/news/20070112145828.htm

US release one Iranian following raid on consulate
Baghdad, Jan 12 (DPA) US forces Friday released one Iranian out of the six they detained in a raid on the Iranian consulate in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq Thursday.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari called on the US-led coalition forces to release the other five Iranians, Arab media reported.

The Kurdish regional government condemned the US raid.

"The attack on a consulate having immunity under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 is against the efforts exerted to establish stability all over Iraq," a spokesman said.
http://www.teluguportal.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=28179

Iraqi Kurds condemn US raid on Iranian office
Iraq's Kurdish regional government on Thursday condemned a US raid on an Iranian government office in the Iraqi city of Arbil as a violation of the region's sovereignty and of international immunity laws.
http://www.ddinews.gov.in/International/International%20-%20West%20Asia

[leftchick]

8. thank you

:)

[0007]

19. You should be well informed and armed now my friend.

Really

[EFerrari]

17. Well, he's not the sole member in this audience, is he? n/t

[The Stranger]

18. If the U.S. seizing a consulate is not "too troubling" to you,

especially in light of recent failures, then I am not sure what to say.

[coalition_unwilling]

20. Bush wants to return us to the international milieu pre-1648 (Peace of

Westphalia) which gave rise to the modern system of consular and ambassadorial sovereignty. Oh well, the rise of the corporate security services (over 1,000,000 private security contractors employed in the U.S.) spells a return to pre-1648 times also. Come to think of it, has not Microsoft\WalMart\Starbucks replaced the Medicis of old?

[Pavulon]

4. Lets keep them

for 5 years or so, hold them hostage, make videos of them, and then put a guy on tv who died earlier and was frozen and make up some shit about how he died.

Oh wait they did that to our people. Ironic. Give them to the sunnis, let them fix it.

[heldmyw]

6. But...

"bad things" might happen to them and.. ohhhhhhh..

I like it!

[Flanker]

9. I am glad to read you are just like them

...

[Pavulon]

13. Satire,

obviously we should not harm the "diplomats". I was being sarcastic.

[Nihil]

10. Is Abu Ghraib still up to its old tricks then? (n/t)

:shrug:

[Pavulon]

14. Yep sorry, that post was t a drunken attempt

at humor. They should be questioned and released back to their people at a border crossing.

[ellisonz]

11. A lesson in the "quant":

Convention IV. Section III.

Art. 68. Protected persons who commit an offence which is solely intended to harm the Occupying Power, but which does not constitute an attempt on the life or limb of members of the occupying forces or administration, nor a grave collective danger, nor seriously damage the property of the occupying forces or administration or the installations used by them, shall be liable to internment or simple imprisonment, provided the duration of such internment or imprisonment is proportionate to the offence committed. Furthermore, internment or imprisonment shall, for such offences, be the only measure adopted for depriving protected persons of liberty. The courts provided for under Article 66 of the present Convention may at their discretion convert a sentence of imprisonment to one of internment for the same period.

The penal provisions promulgated by the Occupying Power in accordance with Articles 64 and 65 may impose the death penalty against a protected person only in cases where the person is guilty of espionage, of serious acts of sabotage against the military installations of the Occupying Power or of intentional offences which have caused the death of one or more persons, provided that such offences were punishable by death under the law of the occupied territory in force before the occupation began.

http://www.genevaconventions.org /

[leesa]

12. He's dead on right. The rest of the world knows Bush is lying again and

trying to blame Iran for HIS mess in Iraq. The bigots, of course, will reflexively blame Ahmedinejad no matter how reasonable his statement.

[Iceburg]

15. Did the Arbil office in Iraq office have diplomatic status?

The President of the Kurdistan region claims YES, it did have diplomatic status. Iran says Yes. Russia says Yes. The U.S. says No.

The Iraq Foreign Minister says "we are treading a thin line".

Thus the answer to a secondary and more important question -- "Has the US broken another international law?", at this point depends on who you believe and how well you read betwixt the lines. See A Game of He Said, She Said below

Don't hold your breath waiting for the main stream media or the UN to answer the question of whether or not the Arbil/Irbil/Erbil office had diplomatic status. Whether the office has diplomatic status or not, by failing to notify or involve the Kurdistan government of the office raid, Bush has single handedly poked a stick in the eyes of the Kurds. Perhaps that was his plan all along -- piss off the Kurds so they too can become active in destabilizating of Iraq, ergo the region.

Defiant he began, Defiant he remains
Bush: "Congress can't stop surge". While the Senate and Congress debate whether or not to support Bush's request for an additional 21,000 troops, someone should let the good folks in Washington know that 4,000 US troops arrived in Iraq today

As long as American forces occupy Iraq there is little hope for democracy in Iraq, and peace in the Middle East. As long as Bush is in the Decider-In-Chief there is NO hope.

A Game of He Said, She Said
Iraq/Kurdistan:
The Official statement by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on the US Raid on Consulate of Iran:
11 January 2007 The Presidency and the Kurdistan Regional Government express their dismay and condemnation of the American action against the official consulate of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The consulate was opened by agreement between the governments of Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and enjoys immunity and protection under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Unlike other parts of Iraq, the Kurdistan Region enjoys safety, security, stability and the rule of law. The US action does not conform to the policy of attempting to spread security and stability throughout all of Iraq. No military action should be taken in the Kurdistan Region without consultations with security authorities here.

The people of the Kurdistan Region protest against and reject this action which violates our internal sovereignty. We do not accept that disputes with our neighbouring countries should be brought onto our soil. We call for the immediate release of those arrested.

More ...
----------------
Important: When Rice et al premise their defence with "they have ties to the Revolutionary Guard" think --Yes, they might have, as the Revolutionary Guard was (and is) part and parcel of Iran's Armed Forces. Then ask yourself: Is there any sitting member of the Senate, Congress or US Diplomatic Corps that is or was a member of the US Armed Forces?

See also:
The Revolutionary Guards are back, The Economist , Jun 17th 2004 | TEHRAN

Iran's Parliament

[oblivious]

16. Good research. Thanks.