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RedditHere's what I wonder: If an Iranian journalist came to the United States, deliberately let his reporter's credentials expire, took a job working for an important US agency that handles confidential or classified material, and then secretly copied one of those documents out of "curiosity," do you think he would have been released by an appeals court? Or do you think that he might have received, say, eight years in prison for espionage?
Roxana Saberi is a very lucky woman. As the Independent reported, not only did she copy a secret Iranian document about the war in Iraq, but she also visited Israel:
A joyful Roxana Saberi yesterday thanked those who helped win her release as her lawyer revealed his client had been convicted of spying in part because she had a copy of a confidential Iranian report on the war in Iraq.Ms Saberi, a freelance journalist who was freed on Monday after four months in prison in Tehran, had copied the report "out of curiosity" while she worked as a freelance translator for a powerful body connected to Iran's ruling clerics, said the lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht.
It turned into a key part of the prosecution's case against Ms Saberi during her secret, closed-door trial in mid-April before an Iranian security court, Mr Nikbakht said. Prosecutors had also cited a trip to Israel that Ms Saberi had made in 2006, he said.
More will come out on this story, I suppose. The same newspaper reports:
Ms Saberi had admitted that she had copied the document two years ago but said she had not passed it on to the Americans as prosecutors had claimed. ... Ms Saberi also told the appeals court that she had engaged in no activities against Iran during her visit to Israel.
According to Reuters, the document in question was a report prepared by the Center for Strategic Research in Tehran.
Hillary Clinton, celebrating her release, said: "We continue to take issue with the charges against her and the verdicts rendered, but we are very heartened that she has been released."
It's comforting to take the whole story at face value, and to assume that Saberi was a naive and innocent bystander in a power struggle between moderates and hardliners in Iran, of course. President Ahmadinejad intervened in the case, seemingly pushing for leniency and fairness. At least one observer in Iran, Ibrahim Yazdi -- who is no fan of the hardliners, though he served as foreign minister in the early days of the Islamic Republic -- told the Times
"Mr. Ahmadinejad wants to take serious steps towards improving ties with the United States before the elections. If he succeeds, it would be to his interest."
It's certainly possible that those who orchestrated her arrest did it to undermine or sabotage the diplomatic dance between Iran and the United States. Because Iranian politics is so opaque, it's impossible to know anything about what happened behind the scenes to free Saberi -- or to conclude who, exactly, were the winners and losers in Iran, if any. At the very least, Saberi's release -- especially in view of the fact that the charges against her may not have been entirely fabricated -- could be a good omen for US-Iran relations.
And a bad omen for Bibi Netanyahu, who is busily preparing his visit to Washington next week. Netanyahu will argue, no doubt, that Obama's opening to Iran won't work, and he'll demand a short deadline before reverting back to the big-stick policy of sanctions and threatened military action.
UPDATE Vali Nasr, an adviser to the State Department in [Richard Holbrooke's]office, is in Tehran, according to Iranian reports confirmed by Iran's foreign minister. Supposedly his trip is about the Saberi case, but of course it's a much more positive sign that something limited to just that.
UPDATE II According to Barbara Slavin, an editor at the Washington Times who talked to Nasr, he is most definitely not in Iran.
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Robert Dreyfuss
A chronicle of America's adventures in foreign policy and national security.
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Posted by Juanpamel at 05/13/2009 @ 12:12pm
So she did steal documents - which means she was not arrested on false charges. It is good to hear the whole story, and know the truth - something that doesn't happen too often these days in the media.
And so it is absolutely correct to point out that is the role was reversed and this was an Iranian person copying U.S. documents that they too would be locked away without a trial here in America - I mean look at all the so-called enemy combatants America has locked away who do not get a fair trial.
And it does seem to be good international relations on the part of Iran and President Ahmadinejad - A man who seems to generally speak in the (oh-so-unspeakable) TRUTH - whether that TRUTH is liked or NOT!
I say a gold star goes to President Ahmadinejad and Iran for being the ones trying to forge a good relationship with us. Now only if our government only had the same morals to do the same.
http://enemyartistkristofer.blogspot.com
Posted by kristofeR! at 05/13/2009 @ 12:32pm
glad for her she's free, but...
MIGHT she have been a spy?
i mean, not to overimpute here, but there are probably tens if not hundreds of thousands worldwide on the US intelligence establishment's payrolls and human intelligence IS recruited from all types...
hmmm...
Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/13/2009 @ 12:39pm
If Saberi is innocent of all charges, then I'm Bibi Netanyahu. Journalist ... 2nd oldest cover in the game, after diplomat.
Posted by sloper at 05/13/2009 @ 12:52pm
Sometime back, there was a TV interview with a young woman who was refused formal employment with the CIA because she had dual citizenship. Of course, informal contacts are routinely made by intelligence agencies. However, the up side of this affair is the chance for a dialogue between the U.S. and Iran.It is to be hoped that Obama engages in negotiations without preconditions.
Posted by pjcasey at 05/13/2009 @ 12:55pm
Curious....
what if....
ROBERT DREYFUSS went to ...
ISRAEL....
and got a hold of some document on their un-official nuclear arsenal or something tamer...and was arrested as a spy for IRAN or Syria?
Just a thought experiment.
Posted by Mask at 05/13/2009 @ 1:33pm
Journalist ... 2nd oldest cover in the game, after diplomat.
Posted by sloper at 05/13/2009 @ 12:52pm
you forgot hooker.
Posted by frosty zoom at 05/13/2009 @ 1:50pm
Frosty,
They're all hookers.
Posted by sloper at 05/13/2009 @ 2:11pm
'The charge that I.F. Stone, the legendary investigative journalist and onetime Washington correspondent for this magazine, was a paid agent of the KGB has been a staple of far-right smear tactics since the early 1990s.' -- D.D. Guttenplan -- The Nation
Posted by HonestLiberal at 05/13/2009 @ 2:44pm
" ... Here's what I wonder: If an Iranian journalist came to the United States, deliberately let his reporter's credentials expire, took a job working for an important US agency that handles confidential or classified material, and then secretly copied one of those documents out of "curiosity," do you think he would have been released by an appeals court? Or do you think that he might have received, say, eight years in prison for espionage? ..."
posted by ROBERT DREYFUSS on 05/13/2009 @ 11:41am
This changes everything - all of the lofty editorials and a lot of the fact reporting in the US on this woman's arrest and prosecution failed to mention what the case against her really was. Certainly, an Iranian journalist in the US acting as you describe would have been arrested, interrogated, and deported, in the very least, if not charged with espionage.
Posted by syfriendly at 05/13/2009 @ 3:03pm
Posted by snowball666 at 05/13/2009 @ 3:35pm | ignore this person | warn this person
As we've seen, in the US, Israelis who engage in espionage can generally expect to not be charged.
Posted by syfriendly at 05/13/2009 @ 3:40pm
Posted by snowball666 at 05/13/2009 @ 3:35pm | ignore this person | warn this person
Remember! It's anti-Semitic to oppose Israeli espionage!
Posted by syfriendly at 05/13/2009 @ 3:41pm
Mr Dreyfuss offered HIS hypothetical...
I offered mine.
What if it was HIM...in Israel...with some "document"...and the Israelis arrested him as a spy for Iran?
Same suspicions?
Posted by Mask at 05/13/2009 @ 3:45pm
If she were undercover as a journalist and copied the secret report, I would support her and celebrate her release (and extradition would have been an understandable response by the Iranians).
If she were undercover as a spy for the U.S. or Israel, I would not support her but I would celebrate her release as a possible show of "good faith." However, could the Iranians prove this? The "out of curiosity" defense is weak, but allows Iran to make that "good faith" gesture.
Posted by cka2nd at 05/13/2009 @ 3:49pm
Some possibilities for these `journalists' being detained:
1) ......
2) Maybe they really are `spies'.
3) .....
Posted by Happy at 05/06/2009 @ 3:36pm
From "Free Saberi, Lee and Ling posted by Peter Rothberg on 05/06/2009 @ 2:40pm"
Thanks, HonestLiberal!
Posted by Happy at 05/13/2009 @ 4:47pm
Saberi's release was expected by anyone who was aware of President Ahmadinejad's political and diplomatic styles. http://thetrajectory.com/blogs/?p=435
Posted by thetrajectory at 05/13/2009 @ 5:14pm
Who knows what she was doing. She easily could have been a spy. No one has seen anything from the case. This case doesn't make Iran a human rights gargantuan, this is obviously a political move for them.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/13/2009 @ 6:10pm
Preconditions are a stalling tactic used to prevent any negotiations or agreement.
Posted by pjcasey at 05/14/2009 @ 06:11am
Her press credentials weren't expired. They were revoked from what I understand.
NPR reported today that she had met with a CIA official and had admitted that in court.
Another paper is also reporting that aside from the classified document that she had, she also had internal memos from a conservative political party in Iran.
I feel foolish for having defended her.
Posted by swampmom at 05/14/2009 @ 06:25am
'Here's what I wonder: If an Iranian journalist came to the United States, deliberately let his reporter's credentials expire, took a job working for an important US agency that handles confidential or classified material, and then secretly copied one of those documents out of "curiosity," do you think he would have been released by an appeals court?'
Mr. Dreyfuss - haven't you been following the news?
Thought this issue was decided by "executive precedent" from Department of Justice recently? He would just be exercising his first amendment rights and set free. Government would have to prove that Iranian agent intended to harm the US by concrete evidence - see Judge Ellis 4th District, and that the Iranian agent would be able to call government witnesses at will who would have to testify under the 'silent witness' rule - see also Judge Ellis 4th District and COA's opinion written by Judge King. First Amendment rights trump government's interest in keeping classified documents classified, absent proof of significant harm (and no the simple fact of revealing "classified documents" for the benefit of a foreign nation is not the standard of proof of harm necessary under Title 18 - Espionage anymore).
Posted by OneVote at 05/14/2009 @ 09:31am
But see below story on how "classified information" obtained by a foreign nation is treated - Bush and Obama. Here "the harm" is very nebulous, as it is well known that US tortures. The "harm" of additional embarrassment for US? Hmmmmm.......seems like we are applying the old standard here. For instance, in the AIPAC spy case, is it not embarrassing to US to have classified information readily given to AIPAC who relays it to Israel? Not only embarrassing, but also causing concern for intelligence sharing in general. Say a nation has some intel that they want to share with US, but not Israel. Can't be done. So, the nation clams up.
'UK minister retracts claim of US 'threat' to cut off intel if evidence of torture released 02/04/2009 @ 3:00 pm Filed by Mike Sheehan
'A top minister in the British government said that the United States threatened to withhold shared intelligence if evidence of the torture of a UK citizen at Guantanamo Bay was released.
The allegation was made by British foreign secretary David Miliband, who told the United Kingdom's High Court that if evidence was disclosed, the US would stop sharing intelligence with the UK, an action that would directly threaten British national security.'
http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=14199
Posted by OneVote at 05/14/2009 @ 09:44am