[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17452]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 4, 2015

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, November 4th marks the anniversary of 
an important date in U.S.-Iranian relations.
  On this date in 1979, only a few months after the Shah was deposed 
and the radical, anti-American, Islamist Ayatollah Khomeini was placed 
in power, a group of young Islamic revolutionaries made their anger 
with the United States known to the world.
  The group stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took over 60 
American hostages. The revolutionaries were angry about President 
Carter's decision to allow the recently ousted Shah into the U.S. for 
cancer treatment and general American interference in their affairs.
  Hostages were blindfolded, bound, beaten, sometimes tortured, 
subjected to solitary confinement and unsanitary conditions, and even 
underwent mock executions.
  Richard Morefield, the Consul General of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran 
recounted that he was subjected to three mock executions, the first 
being on his second night in captivity.
  He was awakened in the middle of the night, herded into a van with 
other hostages, driven somewhere, dragged into a shower room, seated on 
a bench, and made to think he would die there and then.
  Al Golacinski, John Limbert, and Rick Kupke were also subjected to 
mock executions. They too were awakened in the middle of the night, 
forced to remove their clothing, blindfolded and marched into a 
basement where the callous guards made it seem they were about to be 
executed by firing squad. The guards pulled their triggers to their 
unloaded weapons and laughed.
  These hostages lived in emotional and physical turmoil for 444 days.
  Though 13 of the hostages were released after a short time, 
diplomatic means to free the rest of the hostages failed. President 
Carter tried to build pressure through economic sanctions and frozen 
assets.
  Then, Ronald Reagan was elected president. Minutes after his 
inauguration, the Iranians freed the remaining hostages.
  This event left a lasting impression on American foreign policy.
  Sanctions that began as a result of the Iranian hostage crisis 
increased over 36 years as Iran built up its illegal nuclear weapons 
program, conducted terrorist attacks against innocent civilians around 
the world, and violated the human rights of its own people.
  That is until President Obama decided to ease sanctions on this enemy 
nation as part of a disastrous new ``deal.'' On this November 4, 36 
years after the start of the hostage crisis, we have not forgotten. 
And, we have not forgiven.
  And that's just the way it is.

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