Hostage crisis shows an American moral crisis

I was reading an interview the awfully beautiful Rita Cosby of MSNBC had with two former hostages of the Iranian embassy hostage crisis in 1979. This interview was conducted on the 23rd of January.

Twenty five years later, Iranian hostages speak

First off, let me make two things clear. One of the things I would never ever want to go through is a hostage situation like those two men went through. Also, I want to make it clear that because of that, I sympathize with these men. These are obviously good people and they didn't deserve to go through what they did.

That said, something one of them said struck my attention:

I mean, that's the disgrace that, for 444 days, this country that did this to us, it's like someone had raped me of 444 days of freedom and they've never been accountable. It was a difficult time.

Never been held accountable? Yes, that's true. Iran has never been held accountable for the hostage crisis. Iran hasn't been held accountable for a lot of the terrible things it has done. But as alwys, you need to put it in perspective and realize that nobody has ever been held accountable. Was John F. Kennedy held accountable for supporting Shah Reza Pahlavi? Was Lyndon B. Johnson held accountable? Was Richard Nixon? Was Gerald Ford? Was Jimmy Carter? Was anybody in a major position of authority during the time America was great allies with Iran during the Pahlavi dynasty ever held accountably in any way for supporting one of the worst dictators history has ever known?

The answer, is a resounding NO. For a country that has always (and more than ever still do) support freedom and the rights of all people, our government supported a devil (Pahlavi had no remorse ever) and we pretended like we were the biggest victims of all. Being a hostage is an awful experience, but not a single person was murdered, Ayatollah Khomeinei had the decency to let all women, blacks, and the Marine guards go early on in the crisis, as well as anyone who became ill. What did our government do? Well, all they did was support the Shah, buy oil at cheap prices while his people suffered greatly under his absolute rule, endured dreadful treatment from the SAVAK, and God knows what else. And in the 1980s, they pulled out all the stops to ensure an Iraqi victory in the Iran-Iraq War and we will probably never know what the cost of those actions were. And did I mention a trigger-happy Commanding Officer shot down an Iranian civilian airliner in 1988 (albeit by mistake) and awarded him a medal for it?

The point is this. Had our government not supported the Shah, can we safely say Americans would have been taken hostage in 1979? We'll never know for sure, but I can say with at least 100% certainty the answer is no. And is it also safe to say our call for "accountability" is more a washing of the hands and a refusal to see that we can and have done negative? I think that is certainly the case.

I think this is America's major moral crisis. There are enemies out there, terrorists that need to be dealt with, swiftly and effectively. But we must also never forget that most things go both ways, and if we as America truly see ourselves as a world leader, we have to realize as a leader that takes direct control of events around the globe, its our hands in the bowl, not just Iran's or any other country. Its us. It is up to us. And until we take that responsibility, then, I guess all that talk is just rhetoric.

Lets hold our leaders accountable. But most of all, lets hold ourselves accountable.

can we safely say Americans would have been taken hostage in 1979? We'll never know for sure, but I can say with at least 100% certainty the answer is no.

Now what’s wrong with that statement? I would also like to add that hind sight is 20/20 and when past actions are seen with historical context in mind they become clear, because the priorities of said time become clear.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Now what’s wrong with that statement? I would also like to add that hind sight is 20/20 and when past actions are seen with historical context in mind they become clear, because the priorities of said time become clear.

As a Braves fan, nobody knows that hindsight is 20/20 better than me.

However, what's wrong with your statement? This is not a case of hindsight being 20/20. Our government was pretty well-aware of what we were doing an hatred of America by Iranians was a result of support of the Shah. There is no reason for them to dislike us that much if we weren't over there.

Originally posted by sweatmonicaIdo

The point is this. Had our government not supported the Shah, can we safely say Americans would have been taken hostage in 1979? We'll never know for sure, but I can say with at least 100% certainty the answer is no.

You can not say that it would never have happened.
Mossadegh was not the most stable guy out there.
If he had been allowed to remain in power he could have been just as brutal as the Shah later became after being restored to power, where he had been for over a decade.

He also may have been overthrown by the Tudeh Party.

There's a lot of things that could have happened that could have made the situation even worse than it turned out.

There is no reason for them to dislike us that much if we weren't over there.

Ah, so the true point emerges, face it no one knows if things would have turned out differently. Now I’m not ready to second guess and discuss ifs and buts. Like I said when events are looked at in historical context you will see why we had to be over there, and why we had to do certain things.

Originally posted by AceOfBase
You can not say that it would never have happened.
Mossadegh was not the most stable guy out there.
If he had been allowed to remain in power he could have been just as brutal as the Shah later became after being restored to power, where he had been for over a decade.

Again, we will never know, but it definitely wouldn't have increased the percentage possibility of the hostage crisis occuring.