Easter Bunny Ahmadinejad

Unlike when Jimmy Carter was president and there was a hostage crisis in Iran, it didn't take 444 days for the matter to be resolved.

The fifteen British sailors and marines being held hostage in Iran are hostages no more.

Nevermind the threats of trials and the parading of the hostages in front of cameras and forcing them to read scripted remarks.

Iran is giving the British an "Easter gift."

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran on Wednesday freed the 15 detained British sailors and marines in what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called an Easter gift to the British people. Prime Minister Tony Blair said he bore "no ill will" toward the Iranian people.

Iranian state television said the 14 men and one woman, who were seized while on patrol in the northern Persian gulf on March 23, would leave Iran on Thursday. An Iranian official in London said they would be handed over to British diplomats in Tehran.

Ahmadinejad's surprise announcement came at a news conference shortly after he pinned a medal on the chest of the Iranian coast guard commander who intercepted the sailors and marines.

"I'm glad that our 15 service personnel have been released and I know their release will come as a relief not just to them but to their families," Blair said outside his No. 10 Downing St. office. "Throughout, we have taken a measured approach, firm but calm, not negotiating but not confronting, either."

Blair added, "To the Iranian people I would simply say this: We bear you no ill will."

Perhaps in a gesture of thanks and goodwill, Blair should send Ahmadinejad a solid chocolate Easter bunny, not the cheap hollow kind.

Read the Islamic Republic News Agency spin.

In a special ceremony on Wednesday the 15 British marines had a sincere meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and thanked him for the amnesty.

They exchanges discourse one by one with the president and lauded the humane treatment of Iranian government and nation.

Wearing uniforms, they said that Iranians treated them in a friendly and hospitable way.

President Ahmadinejad said that he hoped British Prime Minister Tony Blair would not prosecute the soldiers for telling the truth.

Ahmadinejad is a joke. That's a given.

It's Blair's reaction that is a bit troubling to me.

It seemed like Blair's comments were scripted by Iran. I think it can be said that 16 hostages were released by Iran today.
_____________________________

Read Ahmadinejad's statement announcing the release of the hostages.

"On the occasion of the birthday of the great prophet (Mohammed) … and for the occasion of the passing of Christ, I say the Islamic Republic government and the Iranian people — with all powers and legal right to put the soldiers on trial — forgave those 15."

Ahmadinejad seems to have a Pontius Pilate complex.