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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, APRIL 4, 1980
Page 7
Previous efforts to win freedom for the kidnapped Americans, said the
Times, have not done a visible iota of good, "nor is there any reason to
think that an Iranian president who has proved consistently incapable of
delivering on his solemn promises will be able to do so in the future if
only there is one more American concession, one more example of self-
abnegation, one� retreat from honor and principie.
� ��
"Meet my condition, says Bani-Sadr, do nothing and say nothing about Iran
until the end of June and maybe--just maybe--the hostages will eventually
have an easier time of it.... Bani-Sadr is worried about his political
survival. The United States has more important things to be concerned
with. National self-respect is one of them."
Amazingly, President Carter hailed Bani-Sadr's flimsy offer as "a positive
step," enough for him to once again postpone levelling further economic
sanctions against the Iranian government.
Perhaps the biggest paradox in the Iranian crisis is the continuing
popularity of Mr. Carter (although he might reap the whirlwind by election
time if there is no solution).
Political scientist Hans J. Morgenthau, in an essay written for the Los
Angeles Times, March 30, noted what he called "the apparent paradox of
President Carter emerging from the primaries as almost unbeatable for the
Democratic nomination while the United States under his leadership has
suffered a string of humilating defeats in its relations with other
nations. The most spectacular of these defeats is, of course, the con
tinuing captivity of 50 American hostages in Iran.
"By forswearing from the outset any form of violence in response to this
outrage committed by a third-rate power against, allegedly, the most
powerful nation on earth, Carter deprived himself of any serious leverage
against Iran. Thus the United States is helpless in a situation that in
another period of American history would have called for swift actlon
settling the issue even at the risk of some American lives.
"Nevertheless, the President, by putting the emphasis on saving 50
American lives by peaceful means, struck a sympathetic chord in American
public opinion. Carter did what President Woodrow Wilson was alleged to
have done before:
'He kept us out of war.' And Carter did so without
abandoning what appears to be the most visible and sentimental American
objective: saving 50 American lives. It did not occur to public opinion
or to Carter that American foreign policy has a duty not only to 50
hostages, but also to the nation whose life and fortunes might be jeop
ardized by the actions or inactions of the President."
Most Americans don't realize it, but the entire American nation is
symbolically being held hostage. And there is more still to the symbol
ism. It may not be mere coincidence that there are fifty American
citizens now in captivity in a foreign land. They represent, as it were,
one captive for each state in the union!
The ongoing hostage crisis, therefore, is a grim forecast of the horren
dous national captivity to come (Ps. 106:40-48).
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau