Iranian TV Airs Video It Claims Is of U.S. Spy

[alp227]

Iranian state television broadcast video images on Sunday of a man who it said was a captured American spy sent to infiltrate Iran’s intelligence services.

The video report, also posted online, identifies the man as Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, an Iranian-American from Arizona, apparently in his late 20s. In the video, the man says he joined the United States Army after graduating from high school in 2001, served in Iraq and received training in languages and espionage.

He said he was sent to Iran by the Central Intelligence Agency to try to gain the trust of the Iranian authorities by handing over information, some misleading and some accurate. If his first mission was successful, he said he was told, there would be more missions.

The claims in the video could not immediately be verified. The C.I.A. declined to comment on the matter on Sunday.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/world/middleeast/iran-shows-video-of-a-man-accused-of-being-a-us-spy.html

[Old and In the Way]

1. Not good for Amir, not good for the prospects of peace in the region.

I imagine this will get maximum international publicity. If true, I wouldn't doubt a hi-profile execution. Then what does Obama do? The republicans will make this an election issue and will be demanding that we retaliate....the fact that we don't take kindly to foreign spies, notwithstanding.

[David__77]

3. Spies get killed all the time.

That's the way it goes.

[octothorpe]

7. Isn't that kind of an expected hazard of the spy game?

Spies get caught and shit happens...

It sucks for the spies who get caught, but they kinda know what they were getting into. As you said, we don't really take kindly to foreign spies either.

[Old and In the Way]

9. Of course...but tell that to Republicans and the RW media.

There are different rules for US spies when Democratic Presidents are in office. Should Iran execute this American spy, I wouldn't be surprised to see Republicans in Congress demanding retaliation by this administration. It won't matter if they really believe it's the right thing to do or if they'd have a different reaction if a republican sat in the WH. Look at their rhetoric and reaction when we lost the drone in Oran versus when the spyplane was captured in China under Bush. If it helps paint Obama as a foreign policy wimp that lets US citizens get executed without retaliation, that's perfectly reasonable for Republicans for their own political ends. The same Republicans would then most likely demand impeachment were Obama to do as they suggested.

[MADem]

2. Strangest video I've seen outta Iran in a while.

[Poll_Blind]

4. Out of curiosity, besides the Western production values, what was odd?

If you pretend the segment is in English, it plays exactly how you'd see the piece on Western TV- something like Hardcopy as opposed to 60 minutes, though.

PB

[MADem]

5. The B roll choices are absurd.

Even Hardcopy could have done better.

[Poll_Blind]

6. They need to call...

...1-800-BBB-ROLL!

PB

[MADem]

8. Funny as all get-out!

And that goofy guy would probably have better choices than chunks plainly ripped off from MIC/DOD ads!