According to the Pentagon Post, Dick Cheney is holding 5 Iranian hostages, known as the "Irbil Five":

After intense internal debate, the Bush administration has decided to hold on to five Iranian Revolutionary Guard intelligence agents captured in Iraq, overruling a State Department recommendation to release them, according to U.S. officials.

At a meeting of the president's foreign policy team Tuesday, the administration decided the five Iranians will remain in custody and go through a periodic six-month review used for the 250 other foreign detainees held in Iraq, U.S. officials said. The next review is not expected until July, officials say.

The five, seized in a Jan. 11 raid by U.S. forces in the Kurdish city of Irbil, are at the center of increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran. The decision is certain to further irritate Tehran, which has ratcheted up pressure on the United States and on its allies and even its friends in the Iraqi government to win freedom for the Irbil five.

The decision came as Iraq's government spokesman, on a White House visit Friday, urged better ties. "We feel that the improvement and the better relations between the United States and Iran could minimize -- could make the [Iranian] interference less," Ali Dabbagh said in a news briefing with White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Differences over the five Iranians reflect an emerging divide on how to deal with Iran. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went into the meeting Tuesday advising that the men be freed because they are no longer useful, but after a review of options she went along with the consensus, U.S. officials say. Vice President Cheney's office made the firmest case for keeping them. Their capture signals that Iran's actions are monitored and that Iranian operatives face seizure.

The "Irbil Five" were not taken hostage by the U.S. for any activity they were involved in; every report on their capture (including this) says U.S. troops were really after higher-ups:

In January, the United States again targeted two high-ranking Iranians, including Gen. Minojahar Frouzanda, the Revolutionary Guard intelligence chief, and Mohammed Jafari, deputy head of Iran's National Security Council, U.S. officials say. They eluded capture.

So our troops captured some flunkies, and the only reason we are keeping them hostage is to send this message from Dick Cheney to Iran:

Their capture signals that Iran's actions are monitored and that Iranian operatives face seizure.

What kind of bullshit is this? Every hostage taking in the world can be justified by the captors claiming it "sends a signal."

We just went through a minor crisis for two weeks as Iran held 15 British marines to "send a signal" to the British government. Was that acceptable to us? Of course not!

In 1979, we had 52 Americans held hostage by Iranian revolutionaries in 1979 for 444 days so they could "send a signal" to the U.S. Was that acceptable to us? Of course not!

If it's not acceptable for Iranians to hold Brits or Americans hostage to "send a signal," how can it possibly be acceptable for Dick Cheney to hold Iranians for the same reason??

Lee Iacocca is right: where is the outrage???

Update 1: David Kurtz at TalkingPointsMemo linked to the story, but only with the headline "Condi takes another one for the team." The important point isn't that Condi lost yet another bureaucratic battle to Dick Cheney (has she ever won one?), but that Dick Cheney is holding 5 Iranians hostage in the name of the U.S. - you and me! How can we object when Iran holds Americans or Brits hostage if we're doing exactly the same thing???