Spies Like Us?

This summer, Iran detained three American hikers who allegedly strayed into Iran, accusing them of espionage. The hikers' families just released a video they claim definitively shows the hikers could not have been spies.

In the video shot a day or two before the abduction, the three hikers are shown goofing around, singing and dancing in a mock music video style. The families claim the joking portrayed in the video shows their family members are not spies.

Now as Gormogon aficionados know, 'Puter has no truck for fundamentalist Islamic regimes. And 'Puter thinks it's about 95% certain that the hikers were dumb, lefty kids (all three are UC Berkeley grads) who thought it would be cool and fulfilling to hike in one of the most dangerous parts of the world, and erroneously crossed a poorly defined frontier. But isn't it logical for Iran to say good spies are those who don't appear to be spies, thereby discounting the videos?

The hikers' families better come up with a more convincing argument for their innocence.