Kidnapped Iranian scientist free.

Clawdeeus

Jonny7 wrote: »

Don't think anyone here has lent any creedence to the Iranian media?

Its more based on what the scientist has said himself

Basically all the reports so far have filtered through the Iranian media.
Including what the scientist has said himself.

At first I was sure it was some kind of "prisoner swap" for those 3 kids in Iran atm, however it does not seem that way now.

Im certainly ready to be proven wrong, however the Iranian story just requires too many leaps of logic for me at the moment; a man apparantly captured and tortured and then brought to the US to be watched in such a cursory fashion that he is allowed to release multiple videos and make his way to a foreign embassy...

Untill these issues are addressed in a very real way I dont think anyone can be taken in by that story, except those who are always willing to believe anything negative concerning the West, of which there are plenty around.

Interestingly, the US state department are considering this a propaganda coup for THEM, as people may juxtapose the position of a man who was apparantly kidnapped, but still allowed apparant freedom of speech and freedom of movement, to those US citizens held in Iran, without charge or any of the afformentioned rights. I admit I didnt notice this myself (although now that I think of it, it is quite clever) however it is probably far too subtle to actually be effective.

Clawdeeus

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125978649644673331.html

An example of the Iranian regime using those still within their power to coerce those who cannot be directly threatened. Its a very obvious strategy, and whilst I am not saying this happened for certain, it would go a long way to explaining the strange behaviour of the scientist, and even the American agencies to an extent.

Also, this might stray into the conspiracy theory area, but was it not around the time of this alleged defection/kidnapping that the Western powers learned of the secret nuclear testing plants in Iran. Im just putting that our there, have no idea when they learned of them or even if this guy would know of them himself. Just something I thought of and decided to toss out there

Clawdeeus

dlofnep wrote: »

Shahram Amiri, an Iranian scientist who was abducted by the CIA at gunpoint is now free. Yet another dose of American hypocrisy. Imagine if Iranian agents abducted an American scientist by gunpoint in another sovereign country? They would be bellowing about it for months.

In a hilarious act of defense - The US state department said that he was there of "his own free will".

Concerning your quote, there never was a video released in which he stated he defected. So if he was forced to make one, they didnt bother releasing it. Again strange.

The Corinthian

It is quite conceivable that he actively attempted to defect, then changed his mind and did a runner.

It is quite conceivable that he was originally kidnapped and while they tried then to convince, bribe and bully him into defecting, he at best played along until he could do a runner.

It is quite conceivable that he was originally kidnapped and after convincing, bribing and bullying him into defecting, he agreed, then changed his mind and did a runner.

It is quite conceivable that he changed his mind to protect his family, for patriotic reasons or simply didn't like the deal offered.

It is quite conceivable that something even more bizarre happened.

My guess is any of the above could have happened as people do defect of their own free will, or are convinced to and neither the Iranians nor the Americans are above black bagging or threatening families in these cases. Whatever really happened, it'll be a while before we know the truth of it - probably in some memoir.

Ultimately, the truth is that spooks - be they American, Iranian, Israeli or Russian - are ultimately civil servants. 'Nuff said.