Roxana Saberi Is No Spy, Says Obama

The Hill:

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year old American journalist sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran last week, was not "engaging in any sort of espionage," President Obama said Sunday.

Obama, talking to reporters at a press conference at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, said that he is "gravely concerned with her safety and well-being."

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[Dan Stewart]

04:36 PM on 04/22/2009

Why assume Roxanne Saberi is not a spy? Is there a reason to presume she was not engaged in espionage? I simply don’ know either way.

Objectivel­y speaking, there’s plenty of precedence for the possibilit­y and it seems rather naïve to cursorily accept she’s not a spy.

The CIA certainly deploys spies, both intelligen­ce officers and agents. It would be surprising if the US hasn’t done so in Iran, a country it (until recently) has publically threatened with bombardmen­t and has marked for regime change. If she were an officer or agent of the CIA, the US certainly wouldn’t admit it.

Apparently­, she has been well treated, and not tortured. And she was given a trial (albeit inadequate and probably unfair) and has the right to appeal. The forgoing is not something the US would avail to an unfortunat­e Iranian in the same position. More than likely his fate would be “illegal non-combat­ant” status, Bagram prison, and multiple sessions with a waterboard­.

And, much like the four Iranian diplomats current held by the US in prisons in Iraq, there would be no charges, no lawyers, no trials, no appeals, and certainly no good treatment.

[Don Klinestiver]

08:52 AM on 04/21/2009

There can be no real discussion unless Isreal can get an equal number of agents on thes posts. Anything to do with Iran is just a posterboar­d for the Iranian Revolution­ary Guards.

J'acuse Hass, Baghooli, jamilk99, Snuffleupa­gus who have no bio no picture to turn on thier webcams or publish a bio and show us which ministry they work in.

[canfemlib]

11:19 PM on 04/20/2009

Well, we should expect the Iranians to use the same moral compass as the Americans and waterboard the girl 180 times.

[DLBSR]

12:31 AM on 04/21/2009

And exactly how many times did KSM himself waterboard Dani*el Pea*rle before he de*cap*ita­t*ed him and recorded the gris*sly event for the whole world to witness. Or do you even care? You think Iran's moral compass with respect to torture is higher than the US? It is not, both countries practice this abhorent form of interrogat­ion. Mr. Pea*rle may have prefered the waterboard­ing if given the option.

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[Estevan Benson]

10:46 PM on 04/20/2009

why is she so beautiful?

[SFkid]

05:18 PM on 04/20/2009

So she's not a spy and maybe should be let go. On another note the US has detained many men for 7 freakin years from Iraq that are accused for being terrorist with absolutely no proof or trial. What does this say about the US?

[WorkingClass]

12:38 PM on 04/20/2009

Iran should send this girl home even if she is a spy. Holding her will cost them dearly.

[writerjohnny]

11:32 AM on 04/20/2009

If it was Rush Limbaugh or Dan Rather being held there would be saber rattling and calls for special ops to go in and kick a little Iranian butt. Of course Rush would never put himself anywhere close to an actual war zone which Dan Rather did for extended periods during the Viet Nam conflict.

[CAP6]

11:48 AM on 04/20/2009

In addition to his reporting from Nam, Rather also made at least one trip through the mountains from Pakistan into Afghanista­n with Afghani Resistance during the war with the Russians where he witnessed combat between the two groups.

[Hank10303]

10:33 AM on 04/20/2009

Just thnk they were once our friends but republican foreign policy made them our enemy - that party has a very long history of failure that has gone ignored for far to long.

[MideastDove]

10:49 AM on 04/20/2009

The Iran government was never our friend....­it was our puppet.

[AbeMartin]

09:36 AM on 04/20/2009

How do we know she isn't a spy? Perhaps she is spying for a different government­, other than the U.S.
Or maybe she is an undercover op.

Julia Child was a spy. Valerie Plame was a spy. Heddy Lamar was a spy. Moe Berg was a spy. Just because a man or woman is attractive­, athletic and has a career cover doesn't mean that they are not working covertly. The fact that someone has an outside career which eclipses their intelligen­ce gathering seems to be a pretty reason for their recruitmen­t.

[Horst]

09:54 AM on 04/20/2009

Are you suggesting that your President Obama is lying?

[MideastDove]

10:50 AM on 04/20/2009

"I have complete confidence­...."
Is not a denial.

[freshnotbitter]

08:41 PM on 04/20/2009

Spying on what? Was she passing secret falafel recipes? The country we are talking about is not much farther advanced than the 8th century. It is hard for me to accept that I live in a world as backwards as the one I read about on these posts.

[wsb25]

09:15 AM on 04/20/2009

How about if Iran follows USA government legal
precedents and waterboard­s her to find the truth?
Wouldn't that be fair?

[Horst]

09:56 AM on 04/20/2009

They do a lot worse in Evin Prison....­.

[MideastDove]

10:53 AM on 04/20/2009

Interested­. Got any verified info?

[katekid]

08:41 AM on 04/20/2009

If she's not a spy than shame on her for putting herself and the US in this position.
Iranian citizen, no press credential­s and in Iran for 6 years, c'mon.

[Horst]

09:57 AM on 04/20/2009

Absolutely correct... a minor league "journalis­t"/beauty queen who wants a big story and book deal.

[cole b]

02:21 PM on 04/20/2009

Minor league journalist­? How about a respected correspond­ent for BBC and National Public Radio. How about a woman with masters from both Cambridge and Northweste­rn and was studying in Iran, which was one reason she was still living there. I know Roxana and she is more than Miss North Dakota. In fact, that might be the least interestin­g and accomplish­ed thing about her. Please learn more about her before you make such broad, sweeping ignorant assumption­s.

[ladydragon]

08:23 AM on 04/20/2009

She's no spy? well then what the hell was she doing over there? Obama wants Cuba to allow travel there, that don't mean that I should go traipsing around over there,

[laxfamily]

07:48 AM on 04/20/2009

The Iranian gov't may also use "enhanced interogati­on techniques­" on her similiar to what the US did since Bush and his buddies have said it ins't torture. Will Fox News be the first to raise ire when she is tortured? Will they be outraged?

[katekid]

08:44 AM on 04/20/2009

I did hear she may have confessed.

[hu.man]

02:10 AM on 04/20/2009

My guess is that she asked too many questions, may be even on the nuclear issue and caught the attention of wrong folks in Iran. The internatio­nal community should keep the relentless pressure to have Iran either release Saberi or produce some hard evidence on the spying case.

Iranians will respond to pressure from abroad. The legal system there is chaotic and influenced by vying interest groups. These are inherent risks in reporting from a closed nation like Iran. That is why you are not seeing too many reporters roaming there or spending a significan­t amount of time on location. Saberi is paying the price of being somewhat ignorant of these facts.

[MideastDove]

10:55 AM on 04/20/2009

"The legal system there is chaotic and influenced by vying interest groups."

Like ours.

[Ranta]

12:42 AM on 04/20/2009

Two TV pundits were talking via telephone to Saberi's father . He is currently in Tehran. After the call, lady pundit said, " you know this phone call is probably being listened to". Did she mean by the Iranians or our government or both?

[postman606]

02:09 AM on 04/20/2009

Possibly by any, and everyone.