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Kidnapping is a familiar tactic for Iran
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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - In taking 15 British service members hostage last week, Iran’s militant government is following a tactic begun at the birth of its Islamic revolution in 1979, when it took 63 Americans hostage at the U.S. embassy.
And if history is a judge, Tehran often gains some concessions from the West, either arms or money, or some diplomatic offering that it believes enhances its image in the region.
“They’ve been trying to take American hostages all along,” said Michael Ledeen, a military analyst at the American Enterprise Institute who advocates fomenting a democratic revolution in Iran. “You can be sure they are constantly trying to take hostages, whether it’s in Lebanon or Israel or Afghanistan or Iraq. It’s what they do.”
Ledeen, who is writing a book on Iran, said the regime often gains something by kidnapping Westerners.
The 444-day hostage situation at the American embassy in Tehran brought the new regime a sought-after standoff with President Jimmy Carter, the failed U.S. rescue mission known as Desert One and Carter’s ultimate re-election defeat in 1980. The revolutionaries also won a U.S. commitment not to interfere in its internal affairs.
Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group set up by Iran, took Americans hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan ended up approving arms shipments to Iran in a failed hostage exchange that embroiled the administration in scandal.
Hezbollah took two French hostages in Lebanon in 1986. Paris promptly evicted an Iranian opposition group, which re-established in Iraq, and paid a ransom. The hostages were freed.
The terrorist group snatched two Israeli soldiers last July in a border incursion that triggered a ground invasion and air assault by Israel. It remains to be seen whether Hezbollah wins any type of concession before releasing the two.
Iran seized eight British sailors in the same Shatt al Arab waterway in 2004. But unlike the current crises, Iran quickly released the eight. Britain so far has refused Iran’s demand to admit the 15 service members were operating in Iranian waters.
A U.S. government official, who asked not to be named, said Iran’s exact motives are not clear at this point.
“What appears to be the case is they saw a target of opportunity and they seized upon it,” the official said. “They could very well be trying to use this as leverage to get concessions from the West, like possibly to try to secure the release of some of the Iranians being held in Iraq.”
Syed Hasnat, a Pakistani-educated scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said that so far Iran has not demanded anything other than the admission of a mistake. He said with sanctions imposed on Iran by the United Nations and a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf, Iran is actively defending its borders.
“It is a message that it will not allow anyone to cross its borders,” Hasnat said. “Iran will very jealously guard its borders.”
rscarborough@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
8:40 PM MST on Wed., Jul. 2, 2008 re: "AP interview: Iran envoy dismisses attack threat"
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Examiner Reader said:
i am no big fan of g.w bush but the mess this country is in can not all fall at his door congress played right in there to, a president can only go as far as congress goes along with,to me the whole bunch are do nothings and the very little they have done has been garbage and has been for years clinton was no peach eaither he sighned nafta on his way out so guess whos lap that big flop landed in, between it and billions of dollars poured out into two countries for two wars and then the china free trade agreement,there is no wonder our ecomoney is shot.
1 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
one well placed nuclear bomb would stop iran for good they need to keep thinking the usa dont have the means to stop them if it needs to thats there crazieness
2 agree | 0 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
We are SO TIRED of your scare tactics. You need to go play war somewhere else and not with the lives and hard-earned tax dollars of Americans!!!!
178 agree | 173 disagree
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John Yao said:
I trust nothing that comes out of the mouth of our "beloved" president Bush. He is the biggest idiot to ever hold the post of the presidency. Just like a lot of great empires throughout human kind, Bush will one day represent the turning point of which the USA will start going down as a world power nation.
247 agree | 210 disagree
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Edgar from Miami,Florida said:
Bush seems to love to spend money on "His War", but has yet spent much money on the victims of Katrina and the forest fires of California
190 agree | 149 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
It is always easy to screw those who were stupid enough to work for us such as Saddam . We are so damned blind enough to realize too late that the real enemy is IRAN. It is also true that we, the US killed Saddam by Iraqui proxy. Without our invasion, Saddam is still in power and is an antidote for Iran .
206 agree | 229 disagree
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middleclass2008 said:
Don't worry, the war with Iran will happen soon enough. And THE DRAFT will come back too. Bush has only another year and a half left to wreak havoc on the world. That's plenty of time to find a way. We need to stop him, and then show our leaders what we really think of them... PUT THEM ALL BEHIND BARS... where they belong. Google "middleclass2008" to find an Independent Presidential Candidate who will do just that!
189 agree | 236 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I find it no surprise that a Jewish senator, well lobbied by AIPAC, would want the USA to fight another war on behalf of Israel. The only threat Iran will be in that region is to Israel alone. There are no threats to our country. After all, is Iran more fanatic that Pakistan? Shame on our American senators taking our country to war for the sake of preserving Israel, a country that constantly spies on us and when it doesn't get its way openly criticizes us. Ray B.
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