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From HelpBobLevinson.com:
On Sunday, March 9, 2008, the Levinson Family will be holding the Help Bob Levinson Rally of Hope in Coral Springs, Florida.
We hope that you, our family and friends, will join us in showing love and support for Bob on the one year anniversary of his disappearance and the eve of his 60th Birthday.
We’ll try to provide further information shortly.
UPDATE, 11/27/07: we’ve determined - much to our embarassment - that we were suckered by trackback spam into concluding this was a new report. In fact, it linked, eventually, to a May 2007 post on abcnews.com
This is one of the more insidious permutations of spam - polluting the stream of information about critical issues. Our apologies to our readers. Eds.
The Janine Swainston blog has a report dated November 21, 2007 (two days ago) headed
The entire text of the blog post is:
Friends of the former FBI agent believed to be in custody in Iran, Robert Levinson, say he could be released as early as today based on what they describe as two unconfirmed reports from Tehran. “We have received a call that he is free, and we have people at airports in Frankfurt and Dubai where we have been told he could show up,” one of. . .
The “more” link leads to an ABC News post dated May 1, 2007.
There’s no direct contact information on this blog - but we’re trying to run down this report - which, if true, would be the best Thanksgiving ever for a bunch of my favorite people - not least Bobby Levinson. (If this post finds its way to Mr. Levinson - he should be reminded that he owes me at least one dinner).
RFERL reports that Christine Levinson is awaiting a response to her application for a visa to travel to Iran to search for her husband, Bobby Levinson, who has been missing since March 8, last seen on the Iranian island Kish.
The wife of a former FBI agent who disappeared in March while on a business trip to Iran told Radio Farda today that she has traveled to New York to try to meet with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who is expected to speak at the UN General Assembly. Christine Levinson told Radio Farda that she has not been able yet to get an appointment with the Iranian president.
[photo of Robert Levinson via RadioFarda.com, credited "public domain']
“I keep trying to get an appointment, I know he’s a very busy man but I hope he will be able to find even 10 minutes to see me,” she said. “I want to ask him for his help in finding my husband, I know that he has the ability to find him.”Robert Levinson was last seen on March 8 on Kish Island off the southern coast of Iran, where according to his family he had gone to seek information on cigarette smuggling.
His wife told Radio Farda that she has applied for an Iranian visa to travel to Iran and seek information on her missing husband. She said Iranian authorities are reviewing her visa request.
Craig Crawford’s post in Congressional Quarterly Politics places Bobby Levinson’s disappearance squarely in the middle of the Persian Gulf chessboard:
Now that George W. Bush seems to be around the corner on Capitol Hill to keep control of the Iraq War, he can move on to his other military target: Iran.
And while Congress dithers about Iraq, developments on the Iranian front are playing into the president’s hands. Europeans, especially the Germans, are stepping back from sanctions against Iran that might delay or prevent a U.S. bombing campaign. The British are once again playing ball by agreeing to a U.S. request to move troops to the Iraq-Iran border. And Iran is conveniently heightening tensions by ignoring State Department requests for information about an American, former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in March. [emphasis supplied]
All this comes at a time when Democratic leaders in Congress show no interest in legislation that would tie Bush’s hands if he wants to make a move on Iran — which he will probably do before the year is out.
“Craig Crawford’s Trail Mix: With Iraq Policy Intact, Bush Free to Target Iran.”
From Nasser Karimi of the Associated Press, dated June 10th:
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the detentions of the Iranian-Americans were unwarranted but would not stop the United States from trying to engage Iran on other matters, including its disputed nuclear program and alleged support of insurgents in Iraq.
“We take seriously the holding of any American anywhere in the world where they are being wrongly held and where they are being accused of things that clearly are untrue,” Rice said. “It just shows again what kind of regime this is.”
- snip -
The U.S. also has expressed concern about Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who the United States says has been missing since March after traveling to an Iranian resort island on private business.
[Mohammad Ali] Hosseini [the spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry] reiterated Sunday that Iran has no information about Levinson.
Iran, according to CNN, has now arrested four Iranian-Americans on questionable charges.
Christine Levinson, according to CNN (this graf appears about halfway down the page), “recently traveled to Washington to meet with lawmakers and diplomats who are working on his case.”
Bobby has been missing since March 8th.
The Associated Press, in a report dated May 4, 8:22 P.M. from Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, at the end of a multinational conference about Iraq, that Iranian Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters at the end of an international conference on Iraq held in Egypt that the Iranian investigation on Robert Levinson, which has been going on for over a month, would continue.
Mottaki also said that “Iran has asked for more details about the missing American.”Â
We’re sorry that it took Bob Levinson’s misfortune for us to find out about Stories That Matter - especially their columnist Joe Trento.
With respect to the Levinson matter - now trying to reconstruct the path of coverage - but for Stories That Matter - some of the pieces are bylined “National Security News Service” - one of their trade names - it looks like there might not have been much coverage at all.
We’re aware that Popular Logistics has recently acquired a small audience - a fraction of the large population of Levinson loyalists - but working backwards - we think that our third- and fourth-hand “reports of reports” originated largely with Mr. Trento. To whom many thanks are due.
A link to the NSNS/Trento/Stories That Matter coverage of l’affaire Levinson.
According to www.hindu.com - we understand it to be the on-line version of a large English-language Indian daily paper:
…. Iranian media is reporting behind the scenes activity that could encourage the release of some of the detained Iranians. According to the Iranian website Baztab, detained American Robert Levinson was turned over to American officials within the last 24-hours.
However, the Baztab piece cites back to the earlier “National Security News Service” piece of May 2nd.
According to Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) , Baztab is
close to the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezai, highly critical of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, was banned by the State Council on 29 March. Iranian news agency ISNA, reported that supporters of the president had taken out 15 law suits against it. It was previously blocked on 12 February and 19 March for posting “false” news which “violated the Constitution”, “damaging private life” or the “unity of the country” [Criticizing Ahmadinejad)
[A piece on the same page, reports that the ban has been lifted]:
The Iranian authorities yesterday lifted a ban on the conservative website Baztab.com, one of the most visited sites in Iran. The ban was imposed on 12 February under regulations adopted on 27 November 2006 forbidding the publication of “false†information, “violating the constitution†and attacking “personal privacy†or “the country’s unity.†The site had published reports on Iran’s nuclear industry and on corruption in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was criticised.
Reporters San Frontieres piece here.
The National Security News Service - is a division of Stories That Matter - a group of journalists with impressive investigative and journalistic resumes - Popular Logistics is familiar with some of the players - but not the group. However, our reading is that this sourcing - via NSNS/Stories That Matter - makes it more likely that accounts of Bobby Levinson’s release are accurate.
Rodger Morrow reports that Bobby Levinson has been released to American officials in Iraqi Kurdistan. We’ll try to update later with references to Morrow’s sources.
Our thanks again to Morrow for being ahead of the ’sphere on this story.
We won’t actually be entirely relieved until we hear direct confirmation that he’s back with his family, friends and admirers -Â who are sufficiently numerous to populate a medium-sized island.
Fox news has reported that Bobby Levinson may have been released by the Iranians. We hope this is true. Eds.
Robert Levinson, an American who is missing and last seen on Kish, an Iranian Island, is still missing. Apparently held by Iranian authorities.
Releasing him immediately would, of course, be the right thing to do, and we hope the Iranian authorities reach that conclusion sooner rather than later. It would go some distance in demonstrating Iran’s ability to conduct itself in a way that becomes a great civilization.
We’re reminded of Shakespeare’s admonition in war that soldiers behave with restraint towards civilians:
we give express charge, that in our marches through the
country, there be nothing compelled from the
villages, nothing taken but paid for, none of the
French upbraided or abused in disdainful language;
for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the
gentler gamester is the soonest winner.
Henry V, Act 3, Scene 6
Thanks to Rodger Morrow for keeping on this story.
Robin Wright’s Washington Post April 4 piece here.
It’s our fervent hope that Bobby Levinson is released immediately, and that in the meantime, he knows that he’s in the thoughts of many good people. And me, too.
- JSÂ
