For your consideration... On November 4, 1979, 52 American citizens were kidnapped by a group of Iranians, ostensibly as a protest against the US for allowing the recently deposed Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to come to the US for medical treatment. The kidnapping was indisputably in violation of national and international law, but within a day of the crime, it received the full support of the Iranian government. Six weeks after the kidnapping, the Shah left the US, never to return. Still, the Iranian government, and especially dirtbag Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, relished the opportunity to thumb their nose at The Great Satan and refused to free the prisoners, making up new demands as they went along. President Jimmy Carter first applied diplomatic pressure on Iran in an attempt to gain the hostages release. He then applied economic pressure, banning oil imports from Iran, and freezing $8 billion in Iranian assets that were held in the US. Other than that, there was little he could do short of declaring war. One military rescue attempt failed and resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers and several additional injuries. Other rescue plans never got beyond the planning stage because of the difficulty of the task. Various attempts at negotiations through third parties yielded little progress. But by August of 1980, the Shah was dead, and in September, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran. Iran found itself in a difficult position, isolated in the international community and struggling economically. While the continuing presence of the hostages was a useful tool domestically, it was a disaster internationally. Iran finally entered into meaningful negotiations with the U.S., with Algeria acting as a mediator, and the hostages were released four months later, on January 19, 1981. Iran gained nothing in the negotiations other than a promise that the US would adhere to international law. Politically, the hostage crisis damaged President Jimmy Carter, as Republicans shamelessly seized the situation to relentlessly rip and undermine the president, accusing him of weakness, inaction, and indecisiveness. That the hostages were released on the day of Reagans inauguration was attributed to an imagined fear of Cowboy Ron Reagan on the part of the Iranians. Americans seem to look back on the hostage crisis with a sense of embarrassment. And here the thing: I do not understand why. No hostages died. The US gave up nothing to get their return. Eight servicemen died doing their duty, and this is tragic, but not an embarrassment. That a great power is unable to control circumstances in every corner of the globe may be seen as frustrating, but it is neither surprising nor embarrassing. If Carter had bombed Iran, the hostages would surely have died. So why is this recalled with an aura of embarrassment, as if we lost? I say we unequivocally won!
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 13:27:24 +0000
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