Yeah, Right, Whatever

Several of the former hostages who were the "guests" of militant students at the US Embassy in Tehran for 444 days in 1999-1981 claim that Iran's president-elect was one of their "hosts".

Former hostages Chuck Scott, David Roeder, William J. Daugherty and Don A. Sharer told The Associated Press that after seeing Ahmadinejad on television, they have no doubt he was one of the hostage-takers. A fifth ex-hostage, Kevin Hermening, said he reached the same conclusion after looking at photos. A close aide to Ahmadinejad denied the president-elect took part in the seizure of the embassy or in holding Americans hostage.

President Bush did not directly answer when questioned about this revelation (well, DUH!), but Scott McClellan had this to say.

"I think the news reports and statements from several former American hostages raise many questions about his past," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said of the Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "We take them very seriously and we are looking into them to better understand the facts."

Uh... we're taking them very seriously? I know there has been a bit of a shake-up in the American intelligence community, but I have to hope that the CIA knows what Ahmadinejad had for breakfast. They know who this guy is... what he was doing 20-some-odd years ago... whose side he was on.

And... considering President Bush's "if you're not with us, you're against us" attitude toward terrorism, you have to wonder what they've got up their sleeve...