View Full Version : Former hostages allege Iran's new president was captor
Former hostages allege Iran's new president was captor
Leader of hostage takers: Ahmadinejad "absolutely" not involved
Thursday, June 30, 2005; Posted: 1:55 p.m. EDT (17:55 GMT)
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/meast/06/30/iran.president/story.iran.pres2.ap.jpg
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A quarter-century after their 444-day ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, several former hostages say Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors.
"As soon as I saw the face, it rang a lot of bells to me," Don Sharer, of Bedford, Indiana, told CNN. He had served as the embassy's naval attache when the hostage-taking occurred.
"...Take 20 years off of him. He was there. He was there in the background, more like an adviser."
The November 4, 1979, embassy takeover followed protests demanding that the United States return the shah to Tehran for trial. He had been overthrown by the Islamic revolution 11 months prior and was receiving cancer treatment in New York at the time.
The embassy seizure resulted in a botched rescue mission that left eight U.S. soldiers dead and the severance of U.S.-Iranian ties ever since.
The Associated Press reports the White House is taking the allegations seriously.
"I think the news reports and statements from several former American hostages raise many questions about his past," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told the AP. "We take them very seriously and we are looking into them to better understand the facts."
Remainder & Source (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/30/iran.president/index.html)
Ghostwolf
06-30-2005, 02:24 PM
So Iran (****ounced: Ai-Run) elected a terrorist for a president? No surprise here.
goldman
06-30-2005, 02:54 PM
I'd choke the bitch :fork:
usa320
06-30-2005, 03:34 PM
So Iran (****ounced: Ai-Run) elected a terrorist for a president? No surprise here.
they really didnt elect him... The mullah's just huddled and decided the people "elected" him.
Hopefully the assholes bull**** will backfire and his own people will realize how big of a tool he is. I wouldnt be surprised. most iranians are pro-western and do not like arab influence in their persian country.
Nonetheless, having a terrorist for a president of a country that is close to developing nuclear weaponry is a huge problem.
What they should do is just drop a bomb on his head now before he realizes hes a wanted man and starts the hiding **** like Hussein.
btdown
06-30-2005, 04:33 PM
we should airstrike that bitch immediately.....
Midtown
06-30-2005, 04:43 PM
no, we shouldnt airstrike, we should "assasinate" ...but we all know the US isnt in the business of that...
FallenAngel
06-30-2005, 04:54 PM
no, we shouldnt airstrike, we should "assasinate" ...but we all know the US isnt in the business of that...
Israel is. p-)
usa320
07-01-2005, 12:21 AM
no, we shouldnt airstrike, we should "assasinate" ...but we all know the US isnt in the business of that...
Israel is. p-)
why not both...
if i may dust off an old chestnut, DOUBLE PENETRATION!
Michael RVR
07-01-2005, 12:53 AM
You lot are unbelievable. 25 years is a long time in anyones life.
;)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A quarter-century after their 444-day ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, several former hostages say Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors.
Why did the U.S. wait over 440 days to "take care" of that situation?
Kilgor
07-01-2005, 08:39 AM
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A quarter-century after their 444-day ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, several former hostages say Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors.
Why did the U.S. wait over 440 days to "take care" of that situation?
Two words
Jimmy Carter
:|
Pille1234
07-01-2005, 08:49 AM
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A quarter-century after their 444-day ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, several former hostages say Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors.
Why did the U.S. wait over 440 days to "take care" of that situation?
Two words
Jimmy Carter
:|
Besides him, I would use the two words
Eagle Claw
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A quarter-century after their 444-day ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, several former hostages say Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors.
Why did the U.S. wait over 440 days to "take care" of that situation?
Two words
Jimmy Carter
:|
Besides him, I would use the two words
Eagle Claw
So what?
The op that was launched in response, much too late. A lot went wrong during Eagle Claw.
I wonder how a badly a EU (minus UK) team would have ****ed up.. "I've got a Tango in my sights but i can't shoot him because he didn't shoot me first"
Pille1234
07-01-2005, 09:12 AM
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A quarter-century after their 444-day ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, several former hostages say Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors.
Why did the U.S. wait over 440 days to "take care" of that situation?
Two words
Jimmy Carter
:|
Besides him, I would use the two words
Eagle Claw
So what?
The op that was launched in response, much too late. A lot went wrong during Eagle Claw.
I wonder how a badly a EU (minus UK) team would have f*** up.. "I've got a Tango in my sights but i can't shoot him because he didn't shoot me first"
You asked why it took 444 days to "take care" of the situation. The answer was Jimmy Carter and his missing determination on the one side mixed with a dramatically failing rescue attempt on the other side. I don't know how the EU comes into that apart from their embassies, which were busy with smuggling the remaining cia folks out of Iran.
If you don't like the answer, don't ask the question.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A quarter-century after their 444-day ordeal at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, several former hostages say Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors.
Why did the U.S. wait over 440 days to "take care" of that situation?
Two words
Jimmy Carter
:|
Besides him, I would use the two words
Eagle Claw
So what?
The op that was launched in response, much too late. A lot went wrong during Eagle Claw.
I wonder how a badly a EU (minus UK) team would have f*** up.. "I've got a Tango in my sights but i can't shoot him because he didn't shoot me first"
You asked why it took 444 days to "take care" of the situation. The answer was Jimmy Carter and his missing determination on the one side mixed with a dramatically failing rescue attempt on the other side. I don't know how the EU comes into that apart from their embassies, which were busy with smuggling the remaining cia folks out of Iran.
If you don't like the answer, don't ask the question.
Maybe the fault is on my side but i'm not sure whether you just tried to flame and are now trying to cover it up. Anyway that's the way i see it:
1) By saying "Eagle Claw" you tried to tell us that you know that the op was a bad failure (= INCOMPENTENT AMERICANS, BLA BLA).
2) Preperations for Eagle Claw started in late-December (whereas the hostage-taking too place in early November).
3) The operation started in mid-April the next year.
So when i asked why it took so long i WAS talking about Eagle Claw. Maybe it had to do with only few U.S.-related hostage takings by terrorists and few capabilities regarding this at that time?
Pille1234
07-01-2005, 11:33 AM
Maybe the fault is on my side but i'm not sure whether you just tried to flame and are now trying to cover it up. Anyway that's the way i see it:
1) By saying "Eagle Claw" you tried to tell us that you know that the op was a bad failure (= INCOMPENTENT AMERICANS, BLA BLA).
If mentioning a failed mission is enough for you to consider it flaming, you should sell your modem and stick to some real life activity. That'll be much more relaxing for you. Besides that, don't put words in my mouth.
2) Preperations for Eagle Claw started in late-December (whereas the hostage-taking too place in early November).
3) The operation started in mid-April the next year.
So when i asked why it took so long i WAS talking about Eagle Claw. Maybe it had to do with only few U.S.-related hostage takings by terrorists and few capabilities regarding this at that time?
If this was the intention of your original question, you should have made it a bit more specific. Then I wouldn't have mind answering it because there are many ppl out there with a more detailed knowledge about the preparation and limitations of the operation Iron Claw than I have to offer.
Maybe the fault is on my side but i'm not sure whether you just tried to flame and are now trying to cover it up. Anyway that's the way i see it:
1) By saying "Eagle Claw" you tried to tell us that you know that the op was a bad failure (= INCOMPENTENT AMERICANS, BLA BLA).
If mentioning a failed mission is enough for you to consider it flaming, you should sell your modem and stick to some real life activity. That'll be much more relaxing for you. Besides that, don't put words in my mouth.
You don't know more about my private life than i do about yours (besides, in real-life i am far from easily enraged when i'm able to see my "counterpart" in a discussion, which, usually is the case). Alright, i apologise for stuffing typical Eurowussie-comentary into your mouth.
2) Preperations for Eagle Claw started in late-December (whereas the hostage-taking too place in early November).
3) The operation started in mid-April the next year.
So when i asked why it took so long i WAS talking about Eagle Claw. Maybe it had to do with only few U.S.-related hostage takings by terrorists and few capabilities regarding this at that time?
If this was the intention of your original question, you should have made it a bit more specific. Then I wouldn't have mind answering it because there are many ppl out there with a more detailed knowledge about the preparation and limitations of the operation Iron Claw than I have to offer.
It was and yes, maybe i should have pointed out my intention, more properly.
Is there anybody here who could explain why it took so long to get a rescue mission up and running? (The strategic location and infiltration was not easy but AFAIK the Iranian government back then was U.S. friendly.)
usa320
07-01-2005, 02:08 PM
Eagle Claw was in theory a good mission. We should have pulled it off, it should have worked. Unfortunately, **** luck just kicked in, a helo crashed and it was SNAFU from there.
You really cannot blame the planning or the execution of the mission for its failure, it really was just **** luck.
<Gypsum Fantastic>
07-01-2005, 02:17 PM
John Simpson (BBC correspondant) said this...
As soon as I saw a picture of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's new president, I knew there was something faintly familiar about him.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the first non-cleric to become president
And it was not because he was mayor of Tehran, because, like many other Western journalists, I have been barred from visiting Iran in recent years.
But in the years soon after Iran's Islamic Revolution, I met him and interviewed him.
He was the kind of person you don't forget - intense, articulate, and very fierce in his opinions.
Looking back 20 years, it seemed to me I must have met him at the former US embassy, which had been taken over by revolutionary students some years earlier; but after two decades precise memories fade, and I can't be absolutely certain.
Unfortunately the television rushes, which would have made it all clear, haven't been kept in the BBC archives.
Several former hostages from the embassy are certain that the new president is the man who captured them.
A photograph taken by an Associated Press cameraman of a revolutionary escorting a hooded American prisoner looks rather like President Ahmadinejad, but men with beards and deep-set eyes were not exactly in short supply in Tehran at the time.
The president himself insists it wasn't him, and several of the leading revolutionaries who were in the embassy at the time say he wasn't there with them.
Since these men are now his strong political opponents, that seems pretty conclusive.
Link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4626081.stm)
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