In November, 1979, Iranian “students” stormed the American embassy and took 52 diplomats and military personnel hostage. The military personnel, mostly Marines charged with protecting the embassy, were ordered not to resist. They reluctantly followed orders and were subjected to seemingly endless days of taunting. Shortly, the Soviet embassy was also taken. A messenger from the office of the Ayatollah Khomeini visited the Soviet embassy, and the students released their captives and left the embassy. No one knows what the messenger said, but it probably noted that the Soviets were an armored force with an adjoining border with Iran (Turkmenistan in those days was the Soviet Union), and the Soviets view hostages as military captives to be rescued and revenged. Further, the messenger might have mentioned that the Soviets had long desired a warm-water port and taking diplomatic hostages was an act of war, thereby providing reason to invade Iran.
American leadership was correctly adjudged not to have sufficient stones to stand up for their personnel. Thus started a thousand Jihady cells of resistance to the West, and especially Israel and the Great Satan. What should have happened was the immediate issuance of a threat such as:
“Unless the illegally restrained diplomatic and military personnel of the United States are immediately released, the United States will begin to strike the military of Iran. Should any of the 52 hostages be harmed, the United States will eliminate the electric grid, infrastructure, and ability of Iran to export oil.”
This demand could have initially been back-channeled to the Iranian government, allowing them to comply without public embarrassment. Should they not comply, it would have been made public, then followed through. The probable positive outcome was illustrated by the release of the hostages at the very moment Reagan was being inaugurated as President.
Over the years, the results of insufficient stones has resulted in the deaths of more than 5200 compared to the 52 that would have been at risk, and deaths from inspired and financed terror continue.
Now, after the “World Apology Tour” and the policy of “Talk Loudly and Carry a Small Stick,” Iran will probably complete nuclear armament, and could well bring the 5200 dead to 52,000, or 520,000, or even conceivably 5.2M.
All this because Jiminy Cricket had no stones.
