[Published in the Sunday Guardian of India -
The day that changed the Middle East - The Sunday Guardian Live]
November 4, 2023, marks the 44th anniversary of
the Iranian Hostage Crisis.
It is a pivotal event along the path of Iran becoming the world’s
primary supporter of Islamic terrorism. For 444 days, 52
Americans were imprisoned in brutal conditions.
The story of how Iran went from a reliable pro-West ally to
the center of Fundamentalist Islamic Terror begins with President Jimmy Carter,
and his administration’s, involvement in the Iranian Revolution.
Islam’s
three major sects, Sunni, Shiite, and Sufi, all harbor the seeds of violence
and hatred. In 1881 a Sufi mystic ignited the Mahdi Revolt in the
Sudan leading to eighteen years of death and misery throughout the upper
Nile. During World War II, the Sunni Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
befriended Hitler and helped Heinrich Himmler form Islamic Stormtrooper units
to kill Jews in the Balkans.
After
World War II, Islam secularized as mainstream leaders embraced Western economic
interests to tap their vast oil and gas reserves. Activists became
embroiled in the Middle East’s Cold War chess board, aiding U.S., or Soviet,
interests.
The
Iranian Revolution changed that. Through the success of the Iranian
Revolution, Islamic extremists of all sects embraced the words of Shiite
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini:
“If the form of government willed by Islam were to come into being, none
of the governments now existing in the world would be able to resist it; they
would all capitulate.”
Islamic
dominance became an end in and of itself.
This
did not have to happen.
Iran was
a pivotal regional player for 2,500 years. The Persian Empire was
the bane of ancient Greece. As the Greek Empire withered, Persia,
later Iran, remained a political, economic, and cultural force. This is why
their 1979 Revolution and subsequent confrontation with the U.S. inspired
radicals throughout the Islamic world to become the Taliban, ISIS, Hamas, and
others.
Iran’s
modern history began as part of the East-West conflict following World War
II. The Soviets heavily influenced and manipulated Iran’s first
elected government. On August 19, 1953, British and America
intelligence toppled that government and returned Shah Modammad Reza to power.
“The
Shah” as he became known globally, was reform minded. He launched
his “White Revolution” to build a modern, pro-West, pro-capitalist Iran in
1963. The Shah’s “Revolution” built the region’s largest middle
class, and broke centuries of tradition by enfranchising women.
The Shah
was opposed by many traditional powers, including fundamentalist Islamic
leaders like the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini’s agitation
for violent opposition to the Shah’s reforms led to his arrest and exile.
Throughout his reign, the Shah was vexed by radical Islamic and communist
agitation. His secret police brutally suppressed fringe
dissidents. This balancing act between western reforms and control
worked well, with a trend towards more reforms as the Shah aged. The
Shah enjoyed warm relationships with American Presidents of both parties and
was rewarded with lavish military aid.
That changed in 1977.
From the beginning, the Carter Administration expressed disdain for the
Shah. President Carter pressed for the release of political
prisoners. The Shah complied, allowing many Islamic radicals the freedom to
openly oppose him.
Not satisfied with the pace or breadth of the Shah’s reforms, Carter
envoys began a dialogue with the Ayatollah Khomeini,
first at his home in Iraq and more intensely when he moved to a Paris suburb.
Indications
that the U.S. was souring on the Shah emboldened dissidents across the
political spectrum to confront the regime. Demonstrations, riots,
and general strikes began to destabilize the Shah and his
government. In response, the Shah accelerated
reforms. This was viewed as weakness by the opposition.
The
Western media, especially the BBC, began to promote the Ayatollah as a moderate
alternative to the Shah’s “brutal regime”. The Ayatollah assured U.S.
intelligence operatives and State Department officials that he would only be
the “figure head” for a western parliamentary system.
During
the fall of 1978, strikes and demonstrations
paralyzed the country. The Carter Administration, led by Secretary of State
Cyrus Vance and U.S. Ambassador to Iran William Sullivan, coalesced around
abandoning the Shah and helping install Khomeini, who they viewed as a “moderate
clergyman” who would be Iran’s “Ghandi-like” spiritual leader.
Time and political capital ran out. On January 16, 1979, the Shah, after
arranging for an interim government, resigned and went into exile.
The balance of power shifted to the Iranian Military.
While
the Shah was preparing for his departure, General Robert Huyser, Deputy Commander
of NATO, and his top aides, arrived in Iran. They were under
Carter’s orders to neutralize the military leaders. Using ties of
friendship, promises of aid, and assurance of safety, Huyser and his team
convinced the Iranian commanders to allow the transitional government to
finalize arrangements for Khomeini becoming part of the new
government.
Subsequently,
many of these Iranian military leaders, and their families, were slaughtered.
Khomeini and his Islamic Republican Guard toppled the transitional government
and seized power during the Spring of 1979. “It was a most
despicable act of treachery, for which I will always be ashamed” admitted one
NATO general years later.
The radicalization of Iran occurred at lightning
speed. Khomeini and his lieutenants remade Iran’s government and
society into a totalitarian fundamentalist Islamic state. Anyone who
opposed their Islamic Revolution were driven into exile, imprisoned, or
killed.
Khomeini’s earlier assurances of moderation and working with the West
vanished. Radicalized mobs turned
their attention to eradicating all vestiges of the West. This
included the U.S. Embassy.
The
first attack on the U.S. Embassy occurred on the morning of February 14,
1979. Coincidently, this was the same day that Adolph Dubs, the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped and fatally shot by Muslim extremists
in Kabul. In Tehran, Ambassador Sullivan surrendered the U.S.
Embassy and was able to resolve the occupation within hours through
negotiations with the Iranian Foreign Minister.
Despite
this attack, and the bloodshed in Kabul, nothing was done to either close the
Tehran Embassy, reduce personnel, or strengthen its defenses. During
the takeover, Embassy personnel failed to burn sensitive documents as their
furnaces malfunctioned. They installed cheaper paper
shredders. During the 444-day occupation, rug weavers were employed
to reconstruct the sensitive shredded documents, creating global embarrassment
of America.
Starting in September 1979, radical students began planning a more
extensive assault on the Embassy. This included daily demonstrations
outside the U.S. Embassy to trigger an Embassy security
response. This allowed organizers to assess the size and
capabilities of the Embassy security forces.
On
November 4, 1979, one of the demonstrations erupted into an all-out conflict within
the Embassy’s Visa processing public entrance. The
assault leaders deployed approximately 500 students. Female students
hid metal cutters under their robes, which were used to breach the Embassy
gates.
Khomeini immediately issued a statement of support, declaring it “the
second revolution” and the U.S. Embassy an “American spy den in Tehran”.
What followed was an unending ordeal of terror and deprivation for the 66
hostages, who through various releases, were reduced to a core of
52. The 2012 film “Argo” chronicled the audacious escape of six
Americans who had been outside the U.S. Embassy at the time of the
takeover.
On April 24, 1980, trying to break out of this chronic crisis, Carter
initiated an ill-conceived, and poorly executed, rescue mission called
Operation Eagle Claw. It ended with crashed helicopters and eight
dead soldiers at the staging area outside of the Iranian Capital, designated
Desert One. Another attempt was made through diplomacy as part of a
hoped for “October Surprise”, but the Iranians cancelled the deal just as
planes were being mustered at Andrews Air Force Base.
Carter paid the price for his Iranian duplicity. On November 4, 1980,
Ronald Reagan obliterated Carter in the worst defeat suffered by an incumbent
President since Herbert Hoover in 1932.
Unfortunately, the world continues to pay the price for Carter unleashing
Iranian terror.
