Hiking Liminal Spaces

This is a post where I want to tread carefully.  I won't be including links in it because anyone who wishes to fact check this can easily do so with a quick Google search.  I'm commenting on the three American "hikers" who have been detained in Iran since last August.

The three are all graduates of UC Beserkly (which offers some background about them) who were living in Damascus.  Their ages, at the time of their arrest, are 27, 31, and 27.  These are not kids.  Or, at least, are of an age and claimed experience level to know what they were doing.  They made a trek across Syria (through Turkey?) into northern Iraq (Kurdistan) and, depending on what point of the chronology you examine, were either doing humanitarian work in Kurdistan and "accidently" strayed near the border of Iran ...OR... were intentionally hiking a trail along the "unmarked" border of Iraq and Iran.  Either way, one doesn't stray clsoe to the border of Iran without knowing you're near a country who is a bit touchy about intruders and, especially, Americans.  Perhaps being educated in Beserkly, they were not aware of the tenuous and bitter history between the governements of the US and Iran.

As anyone who may converse with me for any period of time might figure out, Iran is a country/culture near and dear to me.  I am somewhat well-versed in both the history of Persia as well as the 20th Century political timeline of Iran.  Almost lived them as a kid when my dad was offered a position over there with a contractor.  But being endeared to their culture doesn not make me unmindful of the state of current politics.  And being a avid and experienced hiker, I would not go wandering near the border of Iran without deliberately doing so or, at least, knowing I was near such a unmarked space.  I walk all edges, but, as the person who named me as doing so said, I'm always just this side of right.  I love peeking into that abyss, but the entire point of doing so is to come back from the edge to tell the tale of what I saw.  (lapse into a Southern accent:)  It don't matter that I seen what I saw

If these three were intelligent and experienced, they didn't either.  If they accidentally crossed that border I ask, why didn't they have a compass and a map?  With a small guess, being they were Beserklites living in Damascus, perhaps they could have afforded an iPhone with a GPS application?  If I had the money and was intending on wandering such realms, I would consider it.

I guess my opinion of the situation is that of... Morons.  I'm a shade sorry that you're being detained in a foreign land, but then again, you were asking for trouble.  In my opinion, you knew what you were doing and wanted the thrill of bordering (or even entering) Iran's territory.  And you got caught.  Sucks now, don't it?

I tell myself this on the eve of my own travels to a non un-volatile land where, in Kosovo, there are small warnings about how to legally and safely cross the border (Serbia doesn't acknowledge Kosovo's independence so the borders of the region are not considered by Serbia to be international borders.  There's a geographical process to passing through Kosovo, and I have done my research on it and will do so as planned.  However, I fully acknowledge the local government's right to turn me back upon my attempting exit.  At no time do I expect to accidentally cross a border without knowing I'm doing so...nor will I put myself in a position to do so unwittingly).

Again, it's sad to be imprisioned, sadder still for the parents of those kids.  But put yourself in a position where you become pawns of a government that doesn't like the country of your residence, and that's what happens when you put yourself in such a position through arrogence or ignorance.

Their being there indicates that one or the other (or some variation thereof) was in play with them last August when they were detained by the Iranian government.

Also... who goes recreational hiking in the deserts of Iraq in August?



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