San Francisco (Obama.net)- One year ago on Saturday, three American hikers traveling by the border between Iraq and Iran were captured and taken into custody by Iranian officials. Among all of the tensions between Iran and the United States of America, this issue is one that is affecting less people than the nuclear weapons programs of Iran, as well as Iran’s treatment of its own citizens on a daily basis, but President Barack Obama is not letting the issue go just because it only involves three people.
President Obama is once again demanding that the Iranian government release Sarah Shourd, Josh Fattal, and Shane Bauer and allow them to come home to the United States. Obama is making it clear that this situation is above the other disagreements between America and Iran as unlike disputes over nuclear weapons, this is an issue of human rights.
As Obama said, “this is a humanitarian imperative, as these three young people are innocent of any crime.” The three hikers were simply walking through the Kurdistan area of Iraq and allegedly crossed the border.
Iranian officials are claiming that the three young people are not just hikers, but are rather American spies. As a result, Iran’s government is talking about trading the three for Iranian’s being held in custody in the United State.
Obama responded, “I want to be perfectly clear, Sarah, Shane, and Josh have never worked for the United States government.” Obama proceeded to tout the quality of people that the three are and how they simply went to the Middle East in order to explore a region that they liked.
Obama disclosed that the mothers of the three captives were allowed to come to Iran and see their children in prison. Obama expressed his sympathy for the families of the hikers, especially their mothers during the visit.
As the midterm elections are coming on fast and other issues continue to cause the President of the United States great stress and take up much of his time, Obama still knows that he has to do right by the three hikers and their families and at least try to work with Iran for their release.
Leave a Reply