Fate of 5 Iranian consulate staff held by US troops in Iraq not clear

[TexasLawyer]

Fate of 5 Iranian consulate staff held by US troops in Iraq not clear
Baghdad, Jan 13, 2007

The fate of five Iranian diplomats arrested by US troops in the Iranian consulate in Erbil, Iraq, is still in the dark three days after their arrest during a raid conducted by the troops on the consulate in northern Iraq, it was reported on Saturday.

The consulate was raided Thursday morning and its six staff taken away by the forces. One, a local employee, was released Friday, reliable sources here said. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said that the US forces were forced to release the local employee because of intense pressure from Tehran and Baghdad.

US forces broke into the consulate building at 3 am Thursday (local time) by disarming its guards and breaking the lock of the gate. They then arrested the consular staff and took them away along with computers and documents to an "unknown place," the sources added.

The sources described the move by the US forces as "unprecedented" since the invasion of Iraq by US and allied forces in 2003, the sources said. The government of the Iraqi Kurdish region said the raid was conducted without a notification to the local government.

<snip>

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0701138954143109.htm

[Eric J in MN]

1. But don't call it a "gulag."

Sure, it's a hidden system of prisoners in which the US grabs people and doesn't give them lawyers or phone calls or tell the world where they are.

But don't call it a "gulag" because that isn't civil. It implies that Bush is acting like Joseph Stalin, and only uncivil common folk ever compare Bush to a dictator, even indirectly.

Amnesty Internationl said "gulag." Shame on them!

(end sarcasm)

[IndianaGreen]

2. And don't call it torture and don't refer to Guantanamo as a concentration camp

Using Bush's own lexicon, the Nazis could refer to the gas chambers as delousing stations, and the Holocaust as mass suicide.

[Eric J in MN]

4. I actually don't want us to call Gitmo a "concentration camp."

The purpose of Gitmo isn't to concentrate massive numbers of people.

[natrat]

3. hey i got an idea-torture them on Iranian tv and start ww3 with Iran

[Warren Stupidity]

5. So to those who say that the administration is not trying to start a fight

I say you all got some explaining to do.

One provocation after another.

[Eugene]

6. Camp Cropper? (Arrested Iranians tied to group arming Iraqis--US) (Reuters)

Arrested Iranians tied to group arming Iraqis--US
14 Jan 2007 00:47:37 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD, Jan 14 (Reuters) -Five Iranians arrested by U.S. forces in northern Iraq
are connected to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard group that provides weapons to Iraqi
insurgents, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

The five were arrested on Thursday in a U.S. raid on an Iranian government office
in the Iraqi city of Arbil -- the second such operation in a month.

"Preliminary results revealed the five detainees are connected to the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard - Qods Force (IRGC-QF), an organisation known for providing funds,
weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups
attempting to destabilise the Government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces," the U.S.
military said in a statement.

"The Multi-National Force, in keeping with U.S. policy, will continue to disrupt logistical
support to extremists that originate from outside Iraq," it said.

-snip-

The rest of the article goes over the general situation in Iraq.

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1487138.htm