Tourists . . . yeah, right

do you ever post a thread that isnt a news article with next to no comment from yourself?
 
Morba said:
do you ever post a thread that isnt a news article with next to no comment from yourself?
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What comment would you suggest?

Perhaps a description of the local fauna and flora on the Iraq / Iran border?

Perhaps a list of lastminute.com holidays available on the Iraq / Iran border?

Perhaps you could post some useful insights into why the Iraq / Iran border is the perfect place for a walking holiday?

;)
 
perhaps you could post more than just a link...
we all could post random links to start a thread, but that would jsut spam the forum.
How about some decent comments on why you are posting it and what you actually think about it, to start off some debate or something? no? oh.
 
Morba said:
perhaps you could post more than just a link...
we all could post random links to start a thread, but that would jsut spam the forum.
How about some decent comments on why you are posting it and what you actually think about it, to start off some debate or something? no? oh.
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As you wish:

I am posting it because I doubt that any US tourist would seriously contemplate a walking holiday on the Iraq / Iran border; I consider it just possible that these people were not tourists at all. Would it help if I used capital letters or included pictures?

Perhaps it would be more appropriate and elicit some sort of meaningful debate if I asked you to "Spec me a walking holiday on the Iraq / Iran border"?


Jeez, you really should take a chill tablet or get some sleep :rolleyes:
 
well if you read the article. It says walking to/at Ahmad Awam which with a quick google is an extremely popular tourist place for Iraqis. So not as silly as it first seems.
Also no one seems to know what or who has gone missing.
 
American 'tourists' held in Iran?!

Is anyone else as baffled by this story as I am? The tourists were on holiday in... Iraq?! Am I reading this wrong because it's 5am and I should be asleep, or does the story actually imply that there are people stupid enough to go on holiday to one of the most dangerous parts of the world. Tourists my arse!

Also, the popular tourist resort mentioned is so popular that the only mention of it I can find links back to news articles about this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8179388.stm

Washington has said it is checking reports that three US tourists were detained by Iranians while hiking along the northern Iraqi border.

The three are reported to have gone missing in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region which borders Iran.

Local Iraqi officials suggested the Americans might have been detained after straying into Iranian territory.

There was no immediate comment from Iran. The US said its embassy in Baghdad was investigating.

"We are using all available means to determine the facts in this case," the state department said in a statement.

A senior security official in the Iraqi city of Suleymaniyeh, Qadr Hamajan, told Reuters news agency that the Americans were among a group of four hikers that had arrived there on Wednesday.

He said three of them set off the following day for the tourist resort of Ahmad Awa, about 150km (93 miles) to the east and near the Iranian border.

"They phoned their friend in Suleymaniyeh and told him 'We are in trouble and are being held by soldiers who are not speaking Kurdish or Arabic'," he said.

One unnamed border official was quoted as saying US helicopters and military vehicles had begun a search for the the missing tourists in the nearby city of Halabja.

The mountainous border region is popular for hiking. The Iraq-Iran border is not clearly marked in the area.
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Could be naieve tourists who like to go and investigate theese kind of places, then on the other hand it could be a covert recon team surveying the border, as a lot of the equipment coming into iraq to fuel the insurgency comes from iran, both the us and britain use small special forces teams to operate in the border areas, often acting as civilians, journalists or tourists.
 
AcidHell2 said:
well if you read the article. It says walking to/at Ahmad Awam which with a quick google is an extremely popular tourist place for Iraqis. So not as silly as it first seems.
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+1

People really are dumb enough to take holidays in places they shouldn't. It happens.

In 2006, thousands of Lebanese Australians found themselves stuck in Beirut (or some other Godforsaken Lebanese hellhole) when Israel and Lebanon started kicking each other's shins again. They were variously working, holidaying or visiting relatives. (The obvious stupidity of visiting a highly volatile location on the brink of war with one of its closest neighbours had not failed to deter them).

As soon as the war broke out, they expected immediate evacuation at the taxpayers' expense! :rolleyes:
 
setter said:
Could be naieve tourists who like to go and investigate theese kind of places, then on the other hand it could be a covert recon team surveying the border, as a lot of the equipment coming into iraq to fuel the insurgency comes from iran, both the us and britain use small special forces teams to operate in the border areas, often acting as civilians, journalists or tourists.
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No tourist could be that naive, although I did watch a documentary about a bunch of tourists going on a tour of Iraqs historic sites last year. The reporter asked if they were worried about the dangers, their reply "we're too old to worry about such things", I wonder if that would be their reply just before they get their heads chopped off.
 
They're probably Iraqis who had previously fled to the USA (And gained US Citizenship) who went back to visit friends/holiday is all.
 
Yes, it would be interesting to know their ethnicity. I think people too often assume "white" when they hear "Americans".
 
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