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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, November 28, 1979
Page 12
demands for the return of the shah. The third said he agreed with the
petition. Washington's response to the ?etition was: "Such is to be
expected from people under pressure.
Bi.:.t chat
is an affront to those v.ho
refused to sign....
"One of the three, a marine, said:
'I think the revolution is good.' A
second, another marine, said that his captors gave him new understanding
of 'American imperialism.' Such Vichyite behavior by embassy personnel
is not the result of two weeksof captivity in Iran�ather of years of
absorE"in:g-the spirlt ofa liberal culture. Therels too much of the-
France of 1940 in theunlted States of 1979.
- -- -�- -- --
"Next time, the United States should not rule out military measures,
including measures of eventual punishment when immediate rescue of
hostages is not militarily feasible. Perhaps the U.S. government's first
response to the seizure of the Tehran Embassy should have been to send to
Iran's Washington Embassy a map of Iran with 100 military targets--dams,
power stations, etc.--circled in red, and with plans for sealing off all
Iranian oil exports.
"Next time, the United States must not assert, with the matter-of-fact
ness of a self-evident truth, that the safety of the hostages is its
overriding imperative. Such an assertion should not be made because it
should not be true. Vital national interests sometimes require lives to
be risked, in battle and elsewhere. This nation has a vital interest in
being respected, and in its self-resp� In some cases, these interests
may be incompatib-re-with the behavior necessary for guaranteeing the
safety of hostages.
"With that in mind, and with next time in mind, this question must be
faced: What could ever be worse than putting scores of hostages at risk?
One answer is: the loss of millions of Americans in a war made more likely
by the world's slide into anarchy, a slide accelerated by demonstrations
of American impotence."
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau