mahmuod_with_gun.jpgTwenty-eight years ago today Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led an attack on the American Embassy. As part of the planning committee, he helped organize and ultimately participated with and another 300-500 students as they attacked the embassy and started the “Tehran hostage crisis.” Jimmy Carter was president.

After releasing women and African American hostages, the hostages experienced long periods of solitary confinement, and for months were forbidden to speak to one another. What was Carter’s response? He did not declare this an act of war. On the contrary, he appealed on humanitarian grounds, and proposed that Iran and the US form an anti-Communist alliance. He seemingly ignored the fact that clerics and imams in control considered the US a great Satan, and the country that had given refuge to the Shah.

“Carter applied economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran: oil imports from Iran were ended on November 12, 1979, and through the issuance of Executive Order 12170, around US$8 billion of Iranian assets in the U.S. were frozen by the Office of Foreign Assets Control on November 14. Many Iranians in the U.S. were also expelled. *

None of this worked. And the failed “rescue” attempt six months later was also a disaster.
The 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days

Right now in Iran there are Americans being held against their will on phony charges.

Of course, the Iranian madman’s office vehemently deny that Mahmoud was a hostage taker. One look at this picture taken during the crisis at the US Embassy, and the testimony of former hostages though tell a different story.

Mahmoud, the hostage taker, is a lying, calculating madman, holding the world hostage with his threats of nuclear weaponry. If history is any judge, he has nothing to fear from America for his actions.

UPDATE: Iran celebrates the 28th anniversary of the embassy takeover and the hostage crisis. Yes, celebrates.

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Rabbi Yonah

12 Comments

  • When this story broke several years ago , I thought it was incontrovertable. However the CIA states that there is insufficient proof.

  • Rabbi Yonah, The Bush State Dept also has officially denied this connection. So did the White House spokes person at the time. So Bush denies all. News?? It’s horribly unfortunate the we’re engaged in 2 very draining wars at the moment and can’t give this problem the attention & leadership it deserves. I imagine however we’d be at war with them is Bush Jr. did not already have a pre-existing vendetta to settle with Saddam & Iraq. Again, we’ll know exactly why it happened & when we could not stop them from the bomb. It requires a coalition & leadership of the EU & NATO to even start. And that’s never been an accurate description of or for Bush. He’ll truly make Neville Chamberlain’s legacy look good by comparison, if all our fears come to pass.

    Cheers, ‘VJ’

  • This all seems irrelevant. Say it wasn’t him, does that make him any less of a deranged demagogue? Obviously he is anti-US and anti-semite. But look at the bigger picture. Why do Iranians elect such militant crazies? The CIA has supported murderous tyrants in Iran and most of the rest of Middle East from day one. And they definately have “something to fear” from us. We destroyed their neighbor, Iraq for no clear reason and we give millions of dollars in military aid to Saudi Arabia, which doesn’t make Iranians sleep well at night. Despite Jimmy Carter’s restraint (would invading have saved any hostages?) it is abundantly clear that they have everything to fear. This doesn’t excuse their murderous actions of nut-case rhetoric. But if we were serious about helping the situation, instead of just committing our own unproductive destruction in the region, we would own up to our culpability in adding the fear and chaos in the region that helps people like Amedinjehad hold power.

  • Yeah, but what a shnozz!! Proof positive Jimmy Durante is running Iran.

  • Considering Ahmedinejad was hand picked by the Guardian Council to run for president of Iran (and win), it would be no surprise that he had strong revolutionary credentials, but I hardly think the evidence is conclusive that he organized and executed the Embassy takeover.

    I also agree with most of Captain Phat’s assessment of Iranian attitudes towards the U.S. Government. We have taken military action against two of Iran’s neighbors, support two of it’s biggest foes with BILLIONS in military aid, and have tried (rather foolishly and unsuccessfully) to support pro-democracy movements inside Iran. This last bit probably goes a long ways towards explaining the crackdown on U.S. academics, two or three of whom have since been released. Is it any surprise then that the Fuqaha counter Bush with a rather silly (IMO), outspoken leader like Ahmedinejad?

    Finally, let’s gain some perspective folks, the death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan far better qualifies the Bush Administration as murderous than does any Iranian action of the last 28 years. In fact our implicit support of the Iraqis during the 8 Year war only ADDS to America’s shining resume in the region.

  • It’s not Bush doing the murdering, nutjobs. It’s the nutjobs.

    Can’t even recognize each other, for heaven sakes.

  • I was there and this is a photo of one of the “Guards” and NOT Ahmadi Nijad. This guy stood/sat outside my cell for the first two and a half months of the crisis and eventually got married while he was part of the guard force. Definitely, this is NOT Ahmadi Nijad!