CLINTON: RETIRED AGENT ALIVE
BlueMax372
2011/03/04 21:55:19
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- A retired FBI agent who vanished in 2007 while investigating a smuggling case in Iran is apparently still alive, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday [Mar. 3] in a statement that deepened the mystery surrounding the man's nearly four-year-old disappearance.
Robert Levinson, 63, who disappeared during a visit to the Iranian resort island of Kish, apparently is being held "somewhere in southwest Asia," Clinton said, citing unspecified evidence received by the State Department.
Clinton did not elaborate on the nature of the evidence or the circumstances of his detention but called on the Iranian government to assist in his repatriation.
"As the government of Iran has previously offered its assistance in this matter, we respectfully request the Iranian government to undertake humanitarian efforts to safely return and reunite Bob with his family," Clinton said.
The evidence, if borne out, would represent the first news about Levinson's well-being in years. Levinson, who worked as a private detective after he retired from the FBI in 1998, was said by family members to have been in Iran to investigate a cigarette-smuggling case on behalf of several corporations.
--The St. Augustine Record, March 4, 2011, p. 5A; www.staugustine.com
WASHINGTON -- A retired FBI agent who vanished in 2007 while investigating a smuggling case in Iran is apparently still alive, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday [Mar. 3] in a statement that deepened the mystery surrounding the man's nearly four-year-old disappearance.
Robert Levinson, 63, who disappeared during a visit to the Iranian resort island of Kish, apparently is being held "somewhere in southwest Asia," Clinton said, citing unspecified evidence received by the State Department.
Clinton did not elaborate on the nature of the evidence or the circumstances of his detention but called on the Iranian government to assist in his repatriation.
"As the government of Iran has previously offered its assistance in this matter, we respectfully request the Iranian government to undertake humanitarian efforts to safely return and reunite Bob with his family," Clinton said.
The evidence, if borne out, would represent the first news about Levinson's well-being in years. Levinson, who worked as a private detective after he retired from the FBI in 1998, was said by family members to have been in Iran to investigate a cigarette-smuggling case on behalf of several corporations.
--The St. Augustine Record, March 4, 2011, p. 5A; www.staugustine.com
Nuthin'.
"Levinson, who worked as a private detective after he retired from the FBI in 1998, was said by family members to have been in Iran to investigate a cigarette-smuggling case on behalf of several corporations."
in case you are a 'big tobacco hater', you might understand that he was a private contractor working as a self employed individual on behalf of a paying customer.
of course, if you hate capitalism, you have my permission to remain confused!
http://www.cbsnews.com/storie...
U.S. law does ban virtually all commerce with the rogue nations (Iran). The cigarette companies often blame organized crime for the massive amount of cigarette smuggling worldwide, but much of the organized criminal smuggling that accounts for the vast majority of cigarette smuggling worldwide has occurred with the knowledge of the major cigarette companies themselves, and would not occur without the cigarette companies’ compliance.
http://www.emro.who.int/tfi/T...
I grow tobacco. The United States does not maintain relations with Iran and they cannot assist travelers in securing visas to this country. There is no posted expiration date for this Travel Warning. To read the Travel Warning in entirety;
http://travel.state.gov/trave...
While I do hope for the safe return, this is not a path I would recommend others to try. Just like those hikers.
wonder what those Hezbollah cigarette smugglers spend their profits on?
except in a convent... or junior school.
Granted, an American in Iran during 2007..............Yes, they are reliable................
Now, he magically reappears......................