Day 52

Christmas in Tehran

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Day 52
by Brian Josepher
12-Dec-2007
 

I am writing a book on the hostage crisis and the October Surprise [The Complete and ExtraOrdinary History of the October Surprise], the supposed deal between Khomeini's inner circle and the Reagan Republicans to delay the release of the hostages until after the American presidential elections. My book, and this submission, is a fictional non-fiction.

With the Christmas season in full swing and the day rapidly approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to recollect on a Christmas past. The date was December 25, 1979. The location was Tehran, the American embassy, a building on the grounds known as the Mushroom Inn. This was day 52 of the global shift known as the hostage crisis.

“Hello, my name is Joseph Subic Jr. I am a Sergeant in the Marine Corp. I would like to begin my statement with the personal. I traveled this country before the embassy takeover. I saw different towns, different villages. I saw a way of life. And do you know what I found? I started to see more and more people – people without homes, people without food, people without education. I asked myself what had the Shah done?”

Hostage Joe Subic sat at a long table in the basement of a warehouse. Embassy personnel referred to the warehouse as the Mushroom Inn. The warehouse was windowless and perpetually damp, ideal conditions for growing fungi.

There were papers spread all over the long table, suggesting documentation, evidence. There were two cameras in the room. There were floodlights behind the cameras. There was a single microphone on the table. Subic unhooked the hand-held portion. He held it close to his mouth.

He continued, “My thinking started to turn around. My eyes and mind were starting to awake to the truth. But the question of what had the Shah done was only the first half. The second half was more difficult for an American – why did we support the Shah? Why did we support all of his… bloodletting?”

Two floors above Joe Subic in the Mushroom Inn, a small group of hostages filed into a decorated room. There were streamers on the walls. There was a piano in one corner. There was a table in the middle of the room, filled with treats. Brownies, nuts, fruits, a roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams. There was a Christmas tree in another corner. On one wall hung a painting of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, standing alone beside the brilliantly lit White House Christmas tree. The tree was double the height of the man.

On the other walls there were the typical Iranian taunts, written in magic marker: “Allaahu Akbar” (God is great) and “Marg bar Shah” (death to the Shah) and “Marg bar Carter” and “Extradite the Shah” and “Khomeini or Death.” There was also a camera present, filming the proceedings.

A quarter century after these events, one of the Iranian captors, Massoumeh Ebtekar, remembered the scene, “We gave the hostages a beautiful Christmas. As a religious nation of Muslims, we recognized the plurality of religious belief. We were not barbarians, despite the way we were portrayed.”

Two floors below the Christmas festivities, Joe Subic continued with his statement, “My thinking has led me to another question. Why is the Shah given protection and sanctuary in the United States of America? He is an accused criminal. He has admitted his abuses of power on Iranian television, prior to his fleeing the country. He should be extradited. He should stand trial. The Imam Khomeini has promised a fair and open international trial with all nations and churches invited to see that justice is done. Shouldn’t this trial come to pass?”

Two floors above, the small group of hostages tried to look comfortable. Hostage Moorhead “Mike” Kennedy remembered, “We sat on a sofa. Reverend William Sloane Coffin was there to lead the service and there was a lot of good food and we were supposed to be celebrating. But none of the hostages sat next to each other. The Iranian militants sat in between us, to be sure that we didn’t talk to one another. I think that pretty much tells you all you need to know about the general vibe.”

Mike Kennedy was the only person in the room dressed for the occasion. He wore a jacket and tie. “Both,” he admitted, “were badly in need of a dry cleaning.”

Reverend William Sloane Coffin, as Kennedy mentioned, gave the sermon. There were clear reasons why the Iranians chose Coffin. Massoumeh Ebtekar explained, “He was a kindred spirit. He was partial to our cause. He had a militant history against imperialism.”

Certainly Bill Coffin’s résumé fit with the Iranians’ worldview. Prior to discovering God, Coffin had served in both the army and the CIA. In the mid-1960s he had his epiphany. In addition to his life with God, he became a protestor, criticizing United States policy in both Vietnam and Chile, where a CIA-led coup toppled the government of Salvador Allende. According to Ebtekar, he was an example of the “good that can come from rejecting America’s interventionist institutions.”

“What a way to celebrate Christmas,” Reverend Coffin began his sermon. “But doesn’t this make Christmas all the more important? Doesn’t this reduce the enormity of what Christmas now represents – yes, peace and rejuvenation but also consumerism and religious superiority – doesn’t this reduce Christmas down to its essential? Isn’t this day, under these very difficult circumstances, a true time for you to examine your lives?”

Coffin, according to Mike Kennedy, then noted “with his eyes the magic marker writings on the walls. He looked momentarily deflated, as if he’d just suddenly realized where he was and what was going on. But he persevered.”

“The path of bitterness is all around us,” Reverend Coffin continued. “Will you settle for it? Will you let your bitterness guide you? Will it become your destiny? Or will this confinement give you an opportunity to delve further, like a river that runs deeper when its banks narrow?”

The hostages’ reaction to the sermon varied. Mike Kennedy called the sermon, “One of the best I have ever heard.” He then conceded, “I suppose it had to do with our immediate surroundings. The sermon might not have been as powerful if we were in a cathedral in New York.”

John Graves, sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Kennedy, expressed disgust. “The whole thing was a farce as far as I was concerned. It was pure propaganda. I remember Bill Coffin, in attempting to give us some comfort, wasn’t very comforting, because his whole attitude seemed to be more sympathetic to the terrorists than to any of the hostages.”

Two floors below, Joe Subic continued with his statement, “I confess, I am CIA. I confess, I have contributed to the demoralization and subjugation of the Iranian people. I confess, there are CIA spies amongst us. Billy Gallegos is a CIA spy. Steve Kirtley is a CIA spy. Jimmy Lopez is a CIA spy. Greg Persinger is a CIA spy.” All of the men listed by Subic, all marines and hostages, had refused to participate in the statement. The only marine Subic left off his list, Kevin Hermening, sat to Subic’s right.

“I felt totally disgusted,” Hermening told me, “and really angry. None of those guys were CIA. Subic wasn’t CIA. Not only was he lying but I could see that the guy had flipped out. He couldn’t stop talking. It was like eating potato chips. When do you stop? Sergeant Subic couldn’t stop.”

Two floors above, Reverend Coffin read from the nativity scene in Luke: “‘And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’”

Two floors below, Joe Subic stated, “I am CIA. The CIA’s mission here in Iran was not a secret. We were sent here to assassinate the Imam Khomeini.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Kevin Hermening told me. “The whole thing was just… unbelievable. I was sitting right there, and, you know, I couldn’t believe it. It was just so bizarre. And he kept saying, ‘Imam Khomeini, Imam Khomeini,’ as if that nut was his lord and master.”

“Do you have any explanation now for Subic’s statement?” I asked Kevin Hermening.

He took a moment to collect his thoughts. I interviewed Hermening during a baseball game. His hometown team, the Milwaukee Brewers, was visiting the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hermening watched his favorite pitcher, Ben Sheets, fool a batter with a wicked change-up. His answer to my question provided a change-up of sorts.

“It was like he was brain-washed,” Hermening said. “There are forces at work when you’re a hostage, forces that you can’t imagine. It’s like your world goes black and your captors begin to imagine colors for you.”

Joe Subic offered his only public response to The Radford Observer (Virginia) on the one-year anniversary of the hostages’ release. His explanation: “The militants spliced used film footage of me taken on various occasions during my captivity and one of them faked my voice in the film where I supposedly admitted to the militants as being a CIA agent.” In other words, he claimed that he didn’t actually participate in the film.

His explanation generated little support. His commanding officer over twenty-five years ago, Earl Hailston, seemed resigned to a marine who had psychologically caved in. “In retrospect,” Hailston told me, “we have to wonder: were the signs there back in basic training? Was this a young man who wasn’t equipped to represent the United States of America?”

(A note on Earl Hailston: I corresponded with the Lieutenant General while he served as the commander of U.S. Marine forces in the Pacific. He retired soon after our correspondence. His retirement was not voluntary. Hailston called a series of local Okinawa officials “nuts” and “wimps.”)

Former Marine Benjamin Bilious, who not only went through basic training with Subic but eventually gained a doctoral degree in psychology, remembered a “young, pudgy, extremely eager to please, socially stunted guy. He wanted to be liked. You know the type: they want your friendship so much that you end up shunning them. Subic was shunned, no doubt, and he took that to the extreme. He ended up becoming a busy body, getting into everyone’s business. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he talked. Nothing was a secret with him. He was just a chatter bug. The marines teach ‘rapid fire response’ with a weapon. Subic learned ‘rapid fire response’ with his mouth.”

The stresses of captivity apparently exacerbated the “rapid fire response” of Joe Subic. During the embassy takeover of November 4, for instance, the Iranians lined up the hostages and asked for personal information. Name, job title, time in country. One hostage, Don Sharer, answered with belligerence. He gave his name as “Mickey Mouse.”

Joe Subic stepped out of line. “This is Commander Don Sharer,” he corrected. “He’s an F-14 expert. He works for the United States Navy and he was in Vietnam.”

Subic didn’t stop there. He walked the line, giving away invaluable information on others. “This is Colonel Chuck Scott,” Subic continued. “He’s been in Iran many times before and he speaks fluent Persian. He was an attaché here in the sixties.”

At first, the Iranians were shocked. Massoumeh Ebtekar remembered the initial reaction, “An American willing to divulge information? In our planning stages, we certainly never anticipated such a thing.” Iranian shock gave way to prudence. Joe Subic became an informer. The Iranians called him ‘Brother Subic.’ Subic called them “doost.”

“In retrospect,” Lieutenant General Earl Hailston admitted, “he should have been court-martialed. He was the only serviceman not to receive the Defense Meritorious Service Medal following the hostage crisis. Was that enough of a punishment? I don’t know.”

“Is Joe Subic still active in the soldiering business,” I asked Lieutenant General Hailston.

“No,” he responded. “He retired after returning from Iran. If I’m correct, he became a peace officer in Florida.” Hailston pronounced the name of the country in the ignorant American way: I-ran.

During his statement of Christmas day 1979, Joe Subic stood up and stepped around the table. He wore a long coat, a series of sweaters underneath. He looked bundled. In one hand he held the microphone. In the other hand he held up a Christmas card. “This is a special card,” he announced. “It’s from all of the hostages.” And then Subic read the contents of the card: “‘A Christmas wish especially for you, Imam Khomeini. Merry Christmas. May Christmas bring you lasting joy and lovely memories. Merry Christmas, the American Hostages, 25 December 1979. Tehran, Iran.’”

Strangely, Subic smiled for the camera.

Two floors above, Reverend Coffin continued to read from the nativity scene in Luke: “‘On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. When the time of their purification to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in the keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons.’”

At this point in the sermon, the door opened and an Iranian led another hostage into the room. Reverend Coffin nodded a welcome to Joe Subic. Then he continued, “‘Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’”

Joe Subic found a spot on the couch. Hostage Mike Kennedy remembered, “Subic sat next to me. The Iranians couldn’t tolerate that. The militants had to sit in between us. So they stopped the sermon until another guard could be found. He wedged in between us.”
After receiving permission, Reverend Coffin continued with Luke, “‘The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thought of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’”

Reverend Coffin slowly looked around the room. “I know that some of you, here in this place, might be able to commiserate,” he said. “Amen.”

The hostages’ reaction to the completed sermon varied. Mike Kennedy was lost in thought. “Transfixed,” he told me. Another hostage present, Ann Swift, looked at the painting of Roosevelt beside the Christmas tree, then at the Christmas tree in the corner of the room, then at the threats on the walls, particularly “Khomeini or Death.” “I don’t know if I’d ever associated Christmas with morbidity before,” she explained her reaction. “Certainly the Easter has its morbid side. But at that moment, under those circumstances, Christmas seemed pretty bleak.”

Another female hostage, Kathryn Koob, experienced a religious awakening. “I was so moved by Coffin’s sermon,” she remembered, “that I dug my nails into my fists” rather than “break down in front of the camera.”

Another hostage present, Joe Hall, missed his “wife so desperately it was ridiculous. I knew it had to be just as bad for her as it was for me, if not worse. I was really depressed.” Joe and Cheri Hall would divorce in the early 1980s. He blamed “the end of a good marriage” on 444 days of captivity.

John Graves continued to express disgust, “My God, this is Christmas. This – the Iranians, the sermon, the taunts on the walls: “Marg bar Shah,” “Khomeini or Death” – this just couldn’t be. I was so revolted.”

Paul Needham didn’t want any part of the celebration either. He explained, “Since it was obvious that this guy [Reverend Coffin] had been invited in by the Iranians and couldn’t do anything to help us get released, the only thing I cared to find out about was how Nebraska’s football team was doing. The last football score I’d heard was that Nebraska had beaten Missouri 21-20 on the third of November.” Nebraska finished with a record of 10-2 in 1979. Alabama went undefeated to become college football’s champion.

Barry Rosen was the only Jew in the room. “The service was long and boring,” he recalled, “and all I really wanted to do was eat. Like any good Jew, right?”

After laughing, Rosen continued, “There were plates with all kinds of foods just sitting right in front of us and the Reverend kept going on and on. I was like, ‘Please Lord, let me have an apple. I’ll convert if you just give me one bite.’”

Rosen got his wish. After finishing his sermon, Reverend Coffin spread his arms wide. “Please, now help yourselves to this wonderful feast,” he said. Coffin’s characterization of the feast was an understatement. For the hostages, living on bread and water and canned foods such as beans and Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, the fresh food was a veritable bonanza.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten so much,” Barry Rosen recalled. “I ate and ate and ate. It was like I couldn’t get enough.” In the midst of his feasting, Rosen looked at the others. “I didn’t feel bad,” he said, “because we were all gorging. Except for Joe. Joe didn’t eat anything.”

I wrote to Joe Subic through the Dade County Sheriff’s department. I thought this many years later he might want to set the record straight. He never responded to any of my inquiries. I’ve subsequently learned, however, that the reason Subic refused the Christmas day feast was simple. Joe Subic had a ready stash of junk food available to him. He had access to bags of potato chips and jars of peanut butter and containers of mixed nuts. This was a part of the deal he made with his Iranian doost. All the food he could eat. All the warm clothes he could wear. All in exchange for information and subservience.

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I am truly ashamed of being

by AnonymousinNYC (not verified) on

I am truly ashamed of being iranian. Not only because of what a bunch of fanatical, crazy, uneducated Iranians did more than 20 years ago, but because of the shameful responses I read here.

I am proud to be an American citizen but every day, Iranians make ashamed of having been born in Iran.


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You should be ahsamed

by Alborz_ (not verified) on

You should be ashamed of yourself coming to the Iranian.com and publish an story about this while your country has already killed over 600,000 people in less than 8 years. go home and drink some tea and write about your government. become educated in the CURRENT affair, why are the Americans like this? I don't get it.


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This is not the same Iran

by Daryush_ (not verified) on

As the bullying of the US increases towards Iran, the US has lost her best ally and now gradually will go crazy like an 100 year old man, in a corner while her friends leave one by one. Iranian people respected the US but that respect and trust is history. Today that Iran does not exist.
One suggestion to the US government, begin respecting Iran and her people. Stop your crazy war games and become a human like in the civilized world. And I agree with the previous comment, free the Iranian hostages. We are proud Iranians and don't take shit, but understand respect. So begin to act responsibly.


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Free Iranian Hostages

by XerXes (not verified) on

Free Iranian hostages from the savage Bushies NOW!! It is disgusting to see a country that never admits her mistakes and continues to bully the weaker world. Free the Iranian hostages and allow the Red Cross to visit them.


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After all these years we are

by Ara (not verified) on

After all these years we are still seeking the truth.
What did actually happen and who was behind it?
The truth... with solid proof.
No biased innuendos, no accusations w/o evidence, no guesses!
We just need the plain Truth.
Maybe someday... maybe never!


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Wake Up!

by shahram (not verified) on

Brian,
You need to wake up and see what the USA has done around the world.
I don't blame the reaction the USA is getting from every corner of the world.
Why should the economy of our country be based on Industrial Military Complex. Why our government can not behave more civil. Why our government should behave like a drunken cowboy.

Look at the history of this country the way has treated its citizens throughout the history.
Pleaze! Try to read more and watch less football!


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anwer to Shaboon W/O Mokh

by Shaboon Ba Mokh (not verified) on

Shaboon joon,
The embassy was used by Ardeshir Zahedi, grandchild of a British spy in Iran, for Free Masoners meetings in DC and cooperation with Rafsanjanee, Farah and others for the royal reconciliation with the relgious mafia.

Later, they closed it because they started taking whores there and DC police said enough is enough.... Prostitiution is against the law in DC area.


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To Saeed Kafili

by The man who knows too much (not verified) on

Saeed dear,
This is a good start for you to think. However, if I had to explain for you how much indeed it makes sense for the fucking British to be running the shows in Iran as they have been in the past two centuries, then two things can happen:
A) you get so paranoid that you commit suicide and leave no explanation note for mommy

B) you will call me Daee Jaan Napoleon, as any other stupid fucked up Iranian that finds this expression as an easy escape instead of using their feeble brain.

The book called Daee Jaan N. was written by a fucking anglophile and fully supported by the fucking British Emabssy in Iran.

Start thinking and using logic then in about thirty to forty years you will start realizing what goes on in your former country.

No hard feeling. Many others think like you too. And this guy who is writing his fiction is doing that because he has no access to any fucking true feedback and I am just trying to help him not to waste his time on a fiction and stick to the truth....


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US Government is using Iranian Embassey for ....

by Shaboon Bimokh (not verified) on

Iran's embassey in Wash, DC was being used for marriage ceremonies and other gatherings of CIA agents after the embassey was closed in1 1980. This was my last information from a while back. The source said the carpets were there and so were other pics and decoration, but did not know what was there prior to closing. Anyone has other info?


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Why do you feel a "fictional

by leila (not verified) on

Why do you feel a "fictional non-fiction " vs. "non-fiction"
is a good idea for such an event in history at this time?


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To: The man who knows too much

by Saeed Kafili (not verified) on

Aakheh baabaa...iin ham shod "comment'?

Most of us here on this site are no fan of Yazdi or Khamenei. I just hope we can take them to an international tribunal some day, give them a fair trial, and if convicted, impose the appropriate punishment.
But just bluring out, that Yazdi , or Khamenei are Freemason, or work for British M15 is a bit far fetched, don't you think?

I mean, let's say I am a man of low morality, and loyalty,with no sense of nationalism or devotion to anything, other than the mighty dollar. British M15 approaches me, and want me to be their agent in a dangerous part of the world ( where I can be shot, any given day, by opponants, as well as proponants of the regime)corraborate with the British intelligence against my fellow Iranians, FOR 25 YEARS!
How much would they have to pay me? 25 years under the microscope, where I have to at least pretend like a devoted Muslim, praying 5 times a day, not drink, have bodyguards around me, and live with the fear of some day being exposed. And for what? So at the age of 80, they give me a mansion and a million Dollars ( well... Pounds!) in Palm Beach? Do you really think they offered Yazdi or Khamenei, or many of those individuals in that level such deal?
What would be my motivation to take over that role?

Not everybody who does evil in Iran is a foreign agent. Many are just plain wrong, misinformed, cruel, blinded by their own version of their religion, powermongers or fanatics.
And as far as your resources are concerned, other than the very reliable "Daie Jaan Napoleon" we all know of, by all means, do share.


afshin

Duplicitous Foreign Policy

by afshin on

By no means do I care to defend the government of Iran in any shape or form.  But there are a number of important historical facts that are often left out of the story of the US Embassy hostage crisis.  First, is that the embassy was actually taken twice.  The first time the Embassy was taken ambassador Sullivan was at post in Tehran.  The Iranian military as well as the Pasdaran at the instruction of Yazdi, dispersed the students and secured the embassy and subsequently left.  It's truly a mystery why the US embassy remained open.  This after the embassy was run over by militants in a very palpable anti-American atmosphere.  And while it remained open, it was staffed with over 70 personnel (The 52 were the ones who remained after most of the women, blacks, and foreign staff members were released).  It makes one wonder what was the State Department or the President of the United States thinking of when they allowed the embassy to remain open.  More importantly why were the stock piles embassy documents NOT destroyed after the first take over.  In the second and final take over of the embassy these very documents revealed the identity of many American assets in the Iranian government, including Sadegh Ghotbzadeh (foreign minister, director of NIRT) who wound up executed in 1982 once the shredded documents were pieced together.  Perhaps in retrospect the US officials should have erred on the side of caution and closed the embassy or at the very least destroyed all sensitive documents whose security could no longer be assured.  The second and perhaps most mystifying fact about the embassy take over was the general makeup of the perpetrators.  It was not then, nor is it now any secret that the major proponents for this egregious act were mainly composed of individuals with leftist ideologies.  Most notably the MKO (or MEK), the Tudeh party and the Fadayian.  These groups as subservient or at best stooges of the KGB and other communist centers of influence orchestrated this crime, because from the beginning they had an axe to grind with the United States, or as they affectionately termed it, "The arrogant imperialists."  In the final days of the revolution it was the leftists spraying graffiti all over the country stating, "Yankee go home!"  This by no means can absolve the Iranian Government.  But those so called students that participated in the take over were mostly leftists elements whose demise was certainly assured from the beginning of the revolution as those in the helm of power had no intention of sharing that power with anyone, even those that helped them over throw the Shah.

While I sympathize with Mr. Josepher and his colleagues for what he had to endure by being held captive for so long, I hope he will at least shed some light on some of the still murky details of this episode in our common history.  I'm ashamed for the conduct of my countrymen, no matter what their political stripe, for denegrating the good name of my people and heritage, and  I hope someday these good people will forgive all Iranians for staying silent and in a way being passive participants in their suffering.  To the detractors I say this, that yes the US helped overthrow Mossadegh, and yes the US helped the Shah, etc. but these were mostly compartmentalized civil servants that had no idea what the next person was doing, let alone participate in a grand scheme to exploit Iran.  They did not deserve one minute of captivity for it.  It is high time for all Iranians, to offer an apology and restore the good name of our ancestors who would have looked upon this act with disgust.  It is also time that some illucidate for the rest of us common folk what exactly happened.  What was the US government thinking by allowing the embassy to remain open after it had been overrun once?  Why were all those classified documents allowed to remain at station?  And perhaps some government official can tell us the American taxpayer, why we're supporting the MKO after they've murdered US service personel, participated in the take over of the US embassy, participated and admitted to the murdering of foreign officials, colluded with Saddam Hussein in crushing domestic dissent in Iraq, and finally while still being labeled by the US State Department and European Union as a terrorist organization?


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hey Brian

by The man who knows too much (not verified) on

Your book will only last and succeed, if you do what I am advising you. Do research on the fact that it was the British MI5 that advised Khomeini clans (so called students) to invade the American embassy and take the hostages.

If you fail to search in this subject you will regret it when the truth comes out. The average Iranian had no intention of invading an embassy. It was a pre-planned event for at least two years and was implemented when the revolution took place. The primery contacts with the British were Ebrahim Yazdi and Ali Khamenei, both Free Masoners.

The British wanted to keep America out of Iran and you can see that they succeeded for at least 27 years so far and god knows for how much longer, while they have their embassy there and benefit from all things possible. Resources are there you just need to break some invisible glass sheilds.


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Truth...

by Aquaman (not verified) on

Dear aaminian,
I appreciate & respect your knowledge & passion about recent Iranian history & also as a good Iranian...
Believe me, I'm not taking any thing away from our true Iranian hero Dr. Mosadegh... It was wrong from Shah not to listen to him for the best of Iran & Iranians... We all know that... However, Had he stayed in power & perhaps his son took over, Where would us have been? And I mean in every aspect of our lives?
Would Iran destiny today not be as good as today's Spain, Greece and/or even Turkey ? How many Iranian lives would have been spared in the war agains Iraq? I believe Iran & Iranian's lives (in every sector of sociaty) was much more safe, proud, advanced, prosperous & glorious...
You are talking about the truth, let's be honest my friend...
And Mr. Mehrdad,
I love you as a human being first & as an Iranian next! However, you are brainwashed my son... I am sorry if you have suffered! God knows, We all did.... But, when are we going to stop this vicious cycle of hate? Peace can start & grow so fast, only if we know our true Persian identity, literature & philosophy... I.R in action has been a message of hate, revenge & crime so far... And unfortunately you are following a very non-Iranian Idealogy... Read your true Persian history, it has nothing to do with I.R mentality, actions & way of life... It is proven... Please open your eyes & ears son...


Bavafa

Dameshoon garm

by Bavafa on

On the contrary, one ought to say "dameshoon garm" for a preemptive strike in preventing another coup d'etat . The hostages were just an insurance that the US keep their nose out of Iran's business to the extend possible. And if one is going to condemn Iran for attacking another sovereign nation, then he/she should go and condemn every time US has attacked other nations, including the hostage taking of the Iranians in Iraq.

Mehrdad


aaminian

The Invasion of a Sovereign Nation's Embassy!

by aaminian on

To Aquaman: Do you know that CIA was the mastermind behind the
overthrow of our beloved ex-prime minister Mohammad Mosadegh's
democratically-elected government? As a result of that coup d'etat (by
a spy agency of a foreign country!) some 2000 innocent people (who,
BTW, might've indirectly touched your life!) of "Sovereign" nation. If
any of the information I've provided here is NEWS to you, go check the
Library of Congress (LOC) and you'll find out hundreds if of thousands
of articles about the topic.

Next time you go around apologizing
on our behalf (I am guessing the rest of us Iranians...) bear in mind
that it was the Americans who broke all kinds of International Laws
when they directly caused the deaths of those innocent people (not to
mention the loss of some 600,000 Iranian lives in the Iraqi-invasion of
Iran; that war was also masterminded by CIA and carried out by
America's then croeny Saddam! Again, just check the LOC.)

As a
disclaimer, I am NOT an Islamist, or a Hezbollahi, and neither am I
associated with a political party and as such don't take any one
party's side but the side of what is RIGHT! What is right is to voice
out the TRUTH: Shah, the IRI, and the US are all equally guilty of
ruining people's lives in Iran and Iran's "tarnished" reputation all
over the globe.


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Unfair to Shah...

by AQUAMAN (not verified) on

First of all, on behalf of all true Iranians, I apologize & I'm ashamed by the Islamic Republic's savage action (one of so many) by invading a Foreign (U.S.)Embassy which is a sovereign territory belonging to that nation, according to the international law! This horrible action, tarnished Iran's reputation for so many years to come & was a terrible blow to great Identity & Character of Iran & Iranians... History has proven that Khomeini's barbaric regime & his evil followers killed more Iranians & committed serious crimes against humanity in general...
Shah compared to the Islamic criminals was an Angle! God bless him...
Like in an interview with Mike Wallace, Shah said: You guys claim that we have 10,000 political prisoners in Iran, but there are only about 3,000 ! You call them political prisoner And I call them Fanatic terrorists who would not only endanger Iran but the whole region & the world eventually... He said that back in 1976/1977 ! How correct was he? Iranians are not a fool, Mr.Brian Josepher! Thanks for the article though...
God bless...