been thwarted when the revolutionary government sent a rescue
force to the embassy. This time, fifty-two American hostages were
taken. Thus began a crisis between the two countries that would
last over a year. It is unclear whether Khomeini knew of the
embassy attack beforehand, but he clearly condoned it. He was
deeply angered when U.S. President Carter allowed Shah Pahlavi
to seek medical treatment in America. Khomeini, who would
come to brand the United States as “the Great Satan,”^40 demanded
that the former shah be returned to Iran to stand trial. Khomeini
complimented the students who took control of the American
Embassy—one of whom was his son Ahmad.
Prime Minister Bazargan, who had been trying to establish a62 AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI
HATRED AND HOSTAGES
The election year of 1980 was a somber one in the United States.
Americans watched news images of gaunt prisoners, often bound and
blindfolded—former occupants of the U.S. embassy in Tehran now held
hostage by Iranian militants. Hopes repeatedly were dashed as hints of
their pending release came to nothing. The tragic failure of a military
rescue mission in April triggered humiliation and rage.
For most Americans, this was their introduction to Ayatollah
Khomeini, Iran’s new leader. His frowning, intimidating picture was
fixed permanently in the minds of an entire generation. As they saw
it, he clearly had the power to free the prisoners, but he did nothing.
With Khomeini’s obvious approval, the victims had been taken at
gunpoint from a place internationally recognized as a haven of safety.
To Americans, this ayatollah could not possibly be a true man of
God. They came to detest him at least as fervently as he detested
the U.S. government.
Many political historians believe the fifteen-month hostage crisis
was the main reason President Jimmy Carter lost his reelection bid.
The prisoners were released in January 1981 as Carter’s successor,
President Ronald Reagan, was being inaugurated. Khomeini had
effected a leadership change in not one country, but two.
For many Americans a quarter century later, the hostage crisis is unfor-
gettable. At the mention of Iran or Ayatollah Khomeini, they call to mind
blindfolded prisoners and a frightful, glowering man in a black turban.http://www.ebook3000.com