Well, wouldn’t know it… the day after I posted about the powers being abused by the Military Commissions Act, a bit of irony has developed in Iran.

I can’t make this stuff up.

Apparently a U.S. based professor, who holds dual citizenship in Iran and the U.S., is being “detained” by Iran for “crimes against national security”. According to the article on CNN (emphasis mine)…

[Judiciary spokesman] Jamshidi did not give details but a judiciary source later told Reuters Esfandiari was suspected of “crimes against national security,” a broad legal term covering acts deemed to endanger the stability of the Islamic state.

Hmmm, that sounds familiar. But given that we’re basically doing the same thing, if not worse, you might expect the Bush administration to be intimately familiar with and understanding of Iran’s actions…

The U.S. State Department has condemned the arrest of Esfandiari, who has dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, and said she was among a number of U.S.-Iranians being detained by Tehran.

…maybe not. It makes you wonder if the precedent set by his own actions has robbed Bush of any authority or credibility in this matter with Iran. Oops.

Then again, maybe Bush isn’t the one with the problem. His actions have merely undermined any future attempt by the state department or any other U.S. citizen to appeal to a more balanced form of justice. The irony continues in the similarity between Esfandiari and the story Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri in yesterday’s post…

Esfandiari flew to Tehran in December to visit her mother. As she drove to the airport to catch a flight back she was robbed of her belongings, including her passports, it said.

She applied for replacement Iranian travel documents and was interviewed by the Intelligence Ministry. There then followed weeks of interrogations focusing on her work for the center, it said.

The center’s president, former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton, sent a letter in February to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad explaining the work of the organization and seeking his help in securing Esfandiari’s return to the United States.

Gee, a foreign national being detained indefinitely, while an investigation is ongoing, and interrogated by a country out of fear for national security even though they were engaging in non-threatening business inside and/or outside the detaining country. What in the world could we possibly condemn about this? :rolleyes:

This is standard operating procedure now, thanks to the Military Commissions Act.

Ahhh, the irony. We’re so lucky to have to have the Bush regime at the helm, and so is Esfandiari. :thumbsup:

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