Op-Ed: Are Americans Now Fair Game As Hostages Under Obama?

Roxana Saberi is not the only American citizen being detained by Iran. Esha Momeni was arrested by Iranian police for filming a women's rights documentary and now awaits trial. Two female journalists also rot in North Korea. Are they all pawns now?

Two very astute observations on American citizens outside the US now, from the Huffington Post and wowowow.com's staff. First, from wowowow.com:

In North Korea, some fear Pyongyang could use journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee as bargaining chips in their diplomatic battles with other countries.

Reports say the women, who work for Al Gore’s Current TV, have been interrogated as possible spies after being arrested near the China-North Korea border while filming a documentary, and will likely be charged with espionage. Although North Korea has vowed to treat the journalists well, that by no means eliminates all concern.

Curiously, no statement from Al Gore, or postings of the journalists' situation on his Current TV website. They're HIS reporters! Oh well. Lot of that going around lately. Now, on to Roxana Saberi and Iran in-depth, with excerpts of Sam Sedaei, an Iranian, at HuffPo:

President Obama has the responsibility as our elected leader to use the full weight of his office to demand justice and fair treatment for U.S. citizens throughout the world. Doing otherwise will set the precedent that American citizens and journalists are no longer safe anywhere outside of the borders of this country. That precedent cannot and should not be set. President Obama: It's time to speak up about Roxana.

All very well-thought out observations, given the evidence at hand. Yet no mention in either article of Iranian-American citizen, filmmaker and documentarian Esha Momeni, who is now free on bail after her father put up his Tehran apartment as collateral. Ms. Momeni, who was filming interviews with women's rights activists on the Streets of Tehran last October, was arrested by Iranian police and thrown into, you guessed it, Evin prison. She awaits trial on charges of, you guessed it again, celluloid slanders in film. Considering Iran executes "offensive bloggers" now, who knows what they'll do to Esha? But the larger picture that Sam Sedaei and the staff at wowowow.com really get is this: are ALL Americans no longer safe and secure abroad? Can adversaries like Iran and North Korea now hold our citizens at will, and in defiance of international laws and conventions, with total impunity? If our government continues to do nothing about these situations, or worse, eventually gives in and makes grievous political concessions to our enemies to get our people back, who among us is truly safe outside our home field of the United States from here on out? Who else will start getting bright ideas about snatching and holding Americans at will? Lastly, for those of you who might point out, and have, that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not recognize dual American-Iranian citizenship, that leads us right back to the larger question. Do WE? Food for thought. Although I must admit, I'm not inspired by what I've seen so far from President Obama and his new administration in this regard. It's very Carter-like. As always, many thanks to the oustanding REAL reporters at HuffPo, for their great continuing Iran coverage and now-realistic assessments of our true relations with Iran. Never thought I'd see the day. Also, many thanks to the staff of wowowow.com for the same. Glad to see all the Press isn't Invisible.