South Asia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Barbara Slavin writes for Voice of America on the implications of the recent detainment of US sailors by Iran:
When Iran detained 10 American sailors who had intruded into Iranian territorial waters, opponents of President Barack Obama’s diplomacy with Tehran thought they had struck political gold.
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush immediately tweeted: “If our sailors aren’t coming home yet, they need to be now. No more bargaining. Obama’s humiliatingly weak Iran policy is exposed again.” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio asserted Iran was testing the boundaries of this administration’s resolve.
Cable news channels, seeking to fill up airtime before Obama’s final State of the Union address, also had a field day.
I half expected to see them resurrect the old “Americans Held Hostage” news ticker at the bottom of the screen that debuted during the 1979-81 Iranian seizure of the U.S. embassy and 52 American personnel.