- ‹ previous
- 780 of 8902
- next ›
Details on Mother Jones Contributor Shane Bauer, Missing in Kurdistan
On July 31, three Americans went missing while on a hiking trip in Iraqi Kurdistan. They are presumed to have been detained by Iranian authorities. One of them is Shane Bauer, a freelance journalist who has a piece on contractor corruption in Iraq in the forthcoming issue of Mother Jones. The piece had nothing to do with Iran, and Bauer was not on assignment for us when he went to Kurdistan. Below is a statement by Shon Meckfessel, who was traveling with Bauer, but was not with him at the time of his disappearance.
I’m writing this statement to help people understand what happened to my three friends, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal, who went missing by the Iran/Iraq border. I have been close friends with Shane and Sarah for years, and
recently met Josh, a longtime friend of Shane. Shane is a language student and freelance journalist; Sarah is an English teacher; and Josh arranges student exchange trips. All of us have done some writing about our travels, and all of us share a deep appreciation for Middle Eastern cultures.In late July the four of us decided to travel from Damascus, Syria to Iraqi Kurdistan for a short vacation. Sarah had to return to work in a week. While going there might seem strange to Americans, the Kurdish territory is actually very beautiful and quite safe. Since the Kurds gained autonomy in 1992, no American has ever been harmed there. The city of Sulaimania is increasingly popular with tourists, and a friend of ours told us it was the most beautiful area
he’d ever seen.We arrived in Sulaimania the night of July 29th and stayed at the Hotel Miwan. Walking around town the next day, we asked a number of people--taxi drivers, hotel staff, and people on the street--for good places to experience the mountainous terrain in the area. Every one of them told us to visit a place called Ahmed Awa. Not one of these people mentioned that Ahmed Awa was anywhere near the Iranian border. In fact, on the wall of our hotel there were three photos of tourists standing near the Ahmed Awa waterfall.
Ahmed Awa seemed the clear choice for appreciating the stunning natural beauty around Sulaimania, far from any sort of risk. However, it may have been unclear to the people who encouraged us to visit Ahmed Awa that we intended to go hiking in the area, rather than simply visiting the waterfall.
There is no Lonely Planet Iraqi Kurdistan, and Ahmed Awa was not on the map we’d printed out. My sense--wrongly as it turns out--was that Ahmed Awa lay northwest of Sulaimania, in the direction of Dokan Lake (and Dokan Resort), another scenic area we’d considered visiting during our trip through Kurdistan.
On the evening of July 30th, Josh, Shane, and Sarah set out for Ahmed Awa with the plan to camp out. I stayed behind at our hotel because I was coming down with a cold, and wanted a night to recuperate. We agreed to meet up the next day near Ahmed Awa. I purchased an Iraqi SIM card for my cell phone to make sure we could find each other the next day (providing the area had a signal,
which very luckily it did).I spoke with Shane twice that evening. I called him at around 8 p.m. and he told me they’d just been dropped off near a strip of restaurants in Ahmed Awa. A couple hours later he told me they had followed a trail up from the strip of restaurants to the waterfall, and were continuing on the same trail to camp in peace.
On July 31st I woke up feeling better and decided to join my friends. At about 11:30am I called Shane. He told me the weather had been mild all night. That morning they had woken up early and resumed hiking along the same trail. Shane sounded very calm and content, happy to be in a beautiful environment, and made absolutely no mention of any risk whatsoever. I am absolutely certain that they had no knowledge of their proximity to the Iranian border or they would have never continued in that direction. Shane told me they were planning to turn around soon. He thought we could meet up near the waterfall. I sent Shane two text messages, one at 12:50pm and one at 1:22pm, to which he did not respond. At 1:33pm I received a call from Shane during which he told me that they were being taken into custody and that I should call the embassy. I hope that people understand my friends’ presence in the area for what it was: a simple and very regrettable mistake. --Shon Meckfessel
Bauer's story will be arriving in subscribers' homes next week. We will release it online soon.
UPDATE: On Friday evening it was reported that the three Americans were being moved to Tehran.
UPDATE: Shane's Mother Jones investigation is here. The hikers' families have launched a website to build support for consular access to their loved ones.
Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery are the Co-Editors of Mother Jones. You can follow them on Twitter here and here.
Unfortunate
This is truly unfortunate. As any experienced traveler knows, especially one spending any length of time outdoors, much less in Iraq, you must always be aware of your location - bring a map, bring a compass, bring a GPS. My heart goes out to Shane, Sarah, and Josh... but please, be prepared when you take on something like this! The risks are overwhelming.
Let's see
Going hiking on the border between Iraq (a country at war) and Iran (a country run by looney Muslim fundamentalists -redundant) - what could go wrong?
This is just another example of God's way of cleaning up the gene pool.
You know nothing about the
You know nothing about the climate of these places, and you're being insensitive to the families of these individuals. Did you read what was written? Go away and take your negativity elsewhere. You're contributing nothing. You think your god would work that out for the rest of us, huh? Can I get his maid services number?
This rendition of what
This rendition of what happened may be 100% true but, were I attached to a security detail at the Iranian/Kurdistan border, I would not take this at face value.
Firstly, the wanderers come from a country that has openly threatened Iran with a pre-emptive strike in cohoots with Israel, a beligerent nation with an extreme political right in power intent on nuking Iran.
Secondly, the US has been known to recruit all kinds of people to do its intel work, so the fact that these travellers don't look like hardened CIA operatives may assist their cover.
Thirdly, if you're hiking in a foreign land that's a political hotspot, you'd have to be ridiculously naive not to know where you were at any given time. And, not to realise that, if taken into custody, the USA's now notorious waterboarding techniques may well be used (as revenge) to extract a confession (however spurious).
Common sense seems to be in short supply these days along with a gross lack of education.
I hope our State Dept tries to help journalists
Who are not as politically well-connected as Ms Ling and Ms Lee, although I realize the situation with Iran is potentially a lot more complex than the one with N Korea.
You should maybe spike his
You should maybe spike his forthcoming article in the interests of this guy's safety, you will not be thought less of as far as fearlessness goes
No need to spike
Dear Sally:
The issue has been printed and shipped, it starts arriving in peoples homes as early as this weekend. But the families have all read Shane's piece and agree that it will not hurt their situation. We all—the families especially—feel that putting up online will end any speculation about it. We plan to do so Tuesday.
Clara Jeffery
Co-Editor
Mother Jones
Iran
They are lucky to be in Iranian hands. Otherwise they would be dead and the decaps would be video for all to see.
Maybe Bill Clinton can open up his rolodex for them and bring them home too.
I feel very sorry for these
I feel very sorry for these three adventurous spirits and their families. I saw an interview from a family in Elkins Park, Pa. - where I had lived for years and it's heartbreaking.
The subscirbers of Mother Jones and these young folks probalby share opinions and experiences much outside the American mainstream and hopefully will come home safely with an appreciation of our country.
While I feel terribly for
While I feel terribly for the detained individuals and their families, and I hope and pray for their urgent release, this was all so sadly and obviously avoidable. By all accounts these were experienced hikers and travelers, and they should have known better than to venture anywhere near a hostile territory without knowing exactly where they were at all times, aided by good maps and GPS. Anyone who has been near, let alone inside, a conflict zone should know that borders can become very, very fuzzy, and you need to be extremely cautious in your excursions from known safe havens. A lack of mainstream travel guides is no excuse for inadequate preparation, Mr. Meckfessel - quite the opposite, in fact.
My sincerest sympathy goes out to their families - hopefully they will all be home safely very soon.
Easily lost American "Tourists"
Amazingly American "Tourists" have penchant of getting lost in all the wrong places, such as North Korea and Iran. But nothing to fear cavalry will come to rescue in the nick of time. Not withstanding the fact that Kurdistan is full of American, Israeli and Europeans with "deep appreciation for Middle Eastern cultures" are wandering around. Why not, after all it is a creation of America and it has Oil. American journalist were rescued from North Korea by Bill Clinton. So George W. could also visit Iran with a cake and Bible.
Iran is an ancient country
Iran is an ancient country with due process, and this unfortunate state of affairs will be resolved in time.
If you demonise a nation, support its enemies, and sever diplomatic contact, you cannot expect a fast track out of a situation such as this.
Lost journalists
tagged as:- solution
If a journalist or any other person is traveling in a disputed area, he or she needs to carry a GPS device. What's more: if official looking guards start talking to you in a language you don't understand, like Farsi, turn around and head back from where you came!
The area of Kurdistan he was
The area of Kurdistan he was in is safe. Also, the kurds on both sides of the border in that area tend to think of themselves more as kurds vs Iraqis or Iranians. I can see how something like this could happen given this fact. Hopefully this does not drag out but I assume the Iranians will try and work this to their benefit some way or another.
Well, this explanation of
Well, this explanation of the events leading to the detainment of the tourists sure makes sense. But I would like Shane Bauer to answer one more question: What was the group doing in Damascus, Syria, the capitol of a dictatorship accused of having ties to terrorist groups? This is looking very suspicious, and nobody should blame Iranian authorities for being reluctiant to release people who could actually be CIA agents.
Oops, sry, I confused the names
Of course, it is Shon Meckfessel I would like to answer that question. Shane Bauer obviously is unable to do so right now, while he is in custody in Iran.
Doubtful CIA operatives
A bit of Internet searching will easily dismiss any pretense that these travelers are CIA operatives. One is a regular contributor to leftist media in the US (critical of US empire) and Shon Meckfessel is an anarchist who published the very good "Suffled How It Gush" book recently with AK Press. Although Iranian authorities may know that these are not pro-American Empire travelers that might not restrain those authorities from scaring their populations into thinking these are operatives.
For those saying they should "know better", this ignores their fundamental human rights. No state should have the power to detain people. As people who presumably seek the dissolvement of state borders and artificial human conflicts, they were prefiguring a world free of states. Nothing wrong with this. Don't blame less-powerful victims, blame states (authoritarian or not) that harm their (and other country's) populations.
when we Iranians want to
when we Iranians want to enter America, even with a valid U.S visa, the officers do almost a humiliating job to us. they question us as they please, and also they can keep you somewhere unknown without any reason. so, now one should ask, where are these highly moral people to complain to their own officials (in their presumably free land) for such an act of harassment? does it mean that these people get moralized just for their own people?
it's really funny to see Americans are moralizing an ILLEGAL entry (again an illegal one) to Iran. Those have to pay the price of their illegal action or else there could be a quid pro quo (this time with Ms. Clinton!)!.
Why didn't they just get visas?
It sounds to me like he was trying to sneak into Iran with his pals. Haven't we seen this movie? Wasn't it Russia, last time, with the dungeons and the human chesspieces and all that jazz?
Klaatu marachas necktie
"Submitted by nickwib on
"Submitted by nickwib on August 7, 2009 - 4:54pm.
"Iran is an ancient country with due process, and this unfortunate state of affairs will be resolved in time.
"If you demonise a nation, support its enemies, and sever diplomatic contact, you cannot expect a fast track out of a situation such as this."
Holy sh*t. What are you a cartoon? The comments on here sound like they're written by a caricature of your average poorly educated yet supremely conceited leftist dipsh-t.
And did any of you intellectual heavyweights commenting here stop to consider that, as one of the hostages is a contributor to this rag, that maybe his friends or family might read them? Ghouls.
"Hikers"...yeah. Right out
"Hikers"...yeah. Right out of the Mossad playbook. It's even more amazing that MSM thinks anybody is stupid enough to believe this, err, stuff.
He obviously crossed the
He obviously crossed the border on purpose. What an ass.
I declare a boycott of his forthcoming article. When writers are subverting borders, laws and causing international incidents they should be left out of the dialogue.
He asked for it he got it. At least he will have a story to write about if he is ever released. This will probably be the best thing that will ever happen to him and his career as a journalist.
Boykott?
After reading some of the posting I agree in the idea of a boykott - a boykott of anonymus postings, that is. What is an opinion if you shy away? "Cleaning the gene pool", naming them CIA/Mossad/Who-knows-what-members - my english is not good enough to call you politly what I think of you.
To the families and friends: Good luck and my best wishes.
Border navigation
I agree that one should carry a compass, map, and GPS receiver, and be an expert in the use of each. But that's not always enough to keep one out of trouble. Not all borders are well defined. Maps can be wrong. Some borders are disputed. Sometimes border guards cross borders to grab people. Sometimes the folks on the other side do not know where the border is.
This incident raises a lot of questions. Some won't be answered until the hikers are released and leave Iran. Until that time, I think it wise to withhold judgment on whether the hikers screwed-up.
for the conspiracy theorists
For the board conspiracy theorists, I am an officer in the US military and have been interviewed by Mr Bauer on several occasions in the last year regarding my experience in Iraq. As a matter of fact, I am not your typical MoJo reader and only came to the MoJo site to see if Mr Bauer's story (involving me) had been published. I was very surprised to see that Mr Bauer was one of the journalists detained in Iran!
Admittedly, I had the same initial thoughts as many on this board when I first heard about the incident (before I knew who was arrested); however, in this case, we need to put our romantic ideas of Jason Bourne away and grasp the situation for what it is - an unfortunate misunderstanding that is causing hardship for fellow Americans and their loved ones.
Furthermore, I have spent 2 of the last 4 years in Iraq and have a good idea of the environment in Sulaymaniyah and do think that it is very plausible Mr Bauer's group unintentionally wound up on the wrong side of the border (see below). Instead of mean spirited comments, MoJo readers should be praying for his immediate and safe return!
"The area of Kurdistan he was in is safe. Also, the kurds on both sides of the border in that area tend to think of themselves more as kurds vs Iraqis or Iranians. I can see how something like this could happen given this fact. Hopefully this does not drag out but I assume the Iranians will try and work this to their benefit some way or another."
I hope all of them are able
I hope all of them are able to return home safely, albeit with important lessons learned! That said, people never cease to amaze me with their deplorable lack of empathy. I suppose no one posting their diatribe in here has ever gotten lost before. Iran is hardly the 'axis of evil,' we may see them home safely soon enough.. (they let Roxana Saberi go after all)
Shane writes very professional articles
Shane writes very professional articles. There are not so many that kind of journalists in this world now, especially in the U.S.
Hope to see U back soon Shane.
HAHAHA
Completely their fault, and it is as tragic, as it is funny beyond belief.
These morons DO look like they could be if not agent, definitely informants on a by-the-way mission... Like someone said, "hiking" between 2 countries which are in the news every day, and then calling it "outrageous" when they are arrested is in every way completely ridiculous. They deserved to be detained, Iran has EVERY right to detain them, just as long as every Guantanamo Bay detainee has been detained.. Moreover, they should be subjected to the same "interrogation technique", maybe Shane can write us his opinion on that.. if he comes back.
The girl was a nice touch, but won't help get them out faster,