Good news, Haleh Esfandiari has been allowed to leave Iran. The 69-year old Iranian American is now in Austria recuperating from being in prison for more than three months. Iran's leaders did the right thing by letting her go. Esfandiari believes in dialogue between the United States and Iran, not confrontation or war. She was the wrong person for Iran to arrest.
Now the U.S. needs to free the five Iranian diplomats arrested in Erbil last January. In May, it was reported that Dick Cheney prevailed in keeping them under arrest for at least another six months, even though about the only crime I see is that they are Iranians. The U.S. military has presented no evidence why they should be arrested and put in prison. Iran claims they are diplomats. The U.S. government has shown no evidence that they are not, even though Bush's intemperate statements about Iran are in keeping with this reckless arrest and imprisonment of the five Iranians.
The Bush government needs either to show evidence why the five Iranians should be brought up on charges in a court of law or else it needs to free the five Iranians without any more delay.
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