Compass Points - Khamenie or Khomeini?
Free the American hostages.
Compass Points - Khamenie or Khomeini?
Free the American hostages.
November 4, 2024
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You like potato and I like poTAHtoe
You like tomato and I like toMAHtoe;
Potato, poTAHtoe, tomato, toMAHtoe!
Let's call the whole thing off!
-- George Gershwin, "Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off"
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One decade said, ‘Khomeini.’
Today's decade says, ‘Khamenei.’
Let's call the whole thing off!
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As November begins, the New York Times and many other news outlets are reporting that the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warns that both Israel and the US would soon get "a crushing response" from Iran. Another day, another decade, another threat.
On today's date November 4th back in 1979, Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had some 3,000 followers attack the US Embassy in Tehran. The mob took 66 American citizens hostage and held them on the embassy grounds. A few days later the women hostages and a few injured were released. The remaining 52 hostages were held for 444 days.
One of the hostages, a Marine Security Guard Sgt Rocky Sickmann, recalls the hostage taking:
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. . . I ran back to the embassy. Billy Gallegos, a fellow Marine security guard, was sealing down the building, securing it with steel doors. He kept it open long enough for me to get in. Then we donned our gas masks and flak jackets and retrieved our shotguns and snub-nosed .38s. My adrenaline was pumping. At the same time I was concerned. There were only a couple of us in the embassy.
How did they gain entry to the chancery?
As I watched, the Iranians approached, holding signs with messages like This Is a Peaceful Demonstration. Then they were pounding on the front door, and I heard they’d gained access to the basement. So I ran downstairs, and around the corner through smoke and debris come four Iranian women being forced forward by Iranian men. That’s when we start hearing orders: “Don’t fire! Don’t antagonize! Help is on the way.” So we withdrew upstairs behind the steel doors.
Smoke was coming in under the door, as we had popped tear gas. Then the attackers started bringing Americans to the door. There we were, safe on the other side, and we’d hear someone on the other side yell, “They’ve got a gun to my head, and if you don’t open the door, they’re going to kill me!” Then they’d bring another person begging for his or her life.
Somebody was in communication with the White House or State Department, and they were asking what was happening. At that point we were ordered to give ourselves up, and the government would resolve things diplomatically. That was Nov. 4, 1979, and we weren’t released until Jan. 20, 1981. So that morning 52 Americans were stripped of their freedom, dignity and pride for 444 days.
-- Sgt Rocky Sickmann, USMC - History.net
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Sgt Sickmann and the other hostages were never rescued. It is nearly 1,000 air miles from Tel Aviv to Tehran. It is just a few miles longer from Bahrain to Iran. But from the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, just off the coast of Kuwait, it is less than 500 miles to Tehran. Marines from a MEU SOC off the coast of Kuwait, augmented with enough CH-53 helicopters, refuelers, and fighter escorts could have flown directly into the embassy grounds and rescued the hostages.
The Marines were never given the mission. Eventually, a complex joint mission was planned, Operation Eagle Claw. The Delta Force led mission failed and the hostages continued to be held. After holding the 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, the Ayatollah Khomeini finally released the hostages in 1981 just as a new US President was inaugurated.
Today, Ayatollah Khamenie is threatening the US once again. Perhaps it will take the inauguration of a new US President to cause Iran's current Ayatollah to reconsider his words and actions. Compass Points salutes the courage and resolve of Sgt Rocky Sickmann and all the hostages taken on November 4, 1979. Diplomats should never allow an American Embassy to be overrun. Or allow Americans to be held hostage. Every US Embassy is a fortress guarded by Marines. Lock the gates and fight the mob.
It is much the same all over the world. There is always some mob urged on by a Khamenie or Khomeini fighting against the United States or US friends and allies. Lock the gates and call for America's premier 9-1-1 force. No matter where in the world a crisis erupts, the Marines should be nearly onboard Navy ships ready to deter, assist, fight, or rescue. With Marines nearby it should never take 444 days.
Sadly, once again, the hostage clock is ticking today. The American hostages taken on November 4, 1979, are no longer being held. But the Americans taken hostage on October 7, 2023, are still being held hostage in Gaza. Does the US care about these hostages? Where are the Marines? Will it take 444 days and the inauguration of a new President to bring home the American hostages in Gaza? It is 500 miles from the northern tip of the Persian Gulf to Tehran. From the eastern Mediterranean to the tunnels of Gaza is only a few miles. The hostage clock is ticking, how long will American hostages be held captive?
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History.net - 10/1/2018
U.S. Marine Sergeant Rocky Sickmann: A Hostage Remembers
Sickmann was one of 52 hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran who endured 444 days of captivity in 1979–81.
By David Lauterborn
https://www.historynet.com/u-s-marine-sergeant-rocky-sickmann-hostage-remembers/
Credibility is fragile. Two conditions apply. The first is to have the capacity to act. Second is the intent to act.
Over the past 50 years the US has had the capability to act but came up short on intent. That lack of intent is perceived as a lack of resolve, cowardice or organizational confusion. Our adversaries double down on that by their agents and proxies in our country who warn of escalation, unwinnable circumstances, fear of innocent lives lost, compassion and the supposed legitimate complaints of the enemy. We often cave only to provide time to enemies to get stronger, more lethal and more confident.
We have now entered a new stage where our lack of resolve is now matched by our lack of capability. It is not a given that we could win a conflict over Taiwan. With each passing day China grows stronger while we grow weaker. We watched N Korea become a nuclear power. Iran is on the cusp of becoming one. Pakistan became a nuclear power with hardly an objection. We put significant pressure on Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons with our security assurances and so as not to provoke Russia. We did nothing when Russia grabbed Crimea. We trickled in support to Ukraine — 31 Tanks and insufficient Artillery ammunition. We fled Afghanistan and gave more to the Taliban.
Even in DoD our mindset is defensive and we structured the entire Marine Corps into a coastal defense force with scant offensive capability. Do we think any adversary is concerned about the USMC any more?
The world is a jungle. Most of our adversaries can smell weakness like Hyenas can smell a kill. Cowardly Lions can’t hang on to being the Alphas in the food chain if they do not instill fear and cannot protect their food.
Our adversaries correctly gaged our lack of resolve. Now they are calculating our reduced capabilities and future looks bright for them.
A tragic failed rescue attempt that resulted in US loss of life and equipment... the writer is CORRECT in that a MEU (SOC) could've successfully completed this mission and saved the lives and foreign policy embarrassment, had such been available in 1979... thank YHWH for CMC Gen Gray and his immediate implementation of the MEU (SOC) capabilities beginning in 1987! I was blessed to be a part of that ORIGINAL one... I was with Command Element 26th MEU (SOC) Comm Plt and served as the designated C/E Comm Plt PSC3A Satcom operator for the MSPF in 1989... I served with 26th MEU (SOC) from 1987-90...
Unfortunately, FD2030 has rendered our MAGTF capabilities to respond to the designated missions for such in any "clime and place" around the globe...
Semper Fidelis!
Joel "Big Country" Bowling, SGT USMC 1985-91; CWO2 (ret) NCARNG 1991-2013