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Iranian paper 'identifies' students in siege photo ~~
TimesOnline ^ | July 01, 2005 | Sam Knight, Times Online, and Michael Theodoulou

Posted on 07/01/2005 12:52:09 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

World News


July 01, 2005



This photograph of a blindfolded American hostage in 1979 and his Iranian captors has sparked a debate over the role of the President-elect in the crisis. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's opponents say that he is the man circled, but others in Iran have said that the photographed men are dead


Iranian paper 'identifies' students in siege photo



The Bush Administration said today that it is continuing to investigate allegations that the President-elect of Iran was involved in the 1979 attack on the US Embassy in Tehran, even as the photograph that triggered the controversy was further discredited.

The White House press secretary told reporters today that President Bush would not be surprised to learn that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, elected as the new President of Iran last week, took part in the 444-day siege that ruined American relations with Iran.

"We continue to look into it and establish all the facts. I don’t think it should be a surprise to anyone if it turns out to be true," said Scott McClellan this morning, referring to allegations made by five American hostages on Wednesday that they remembered Mr Ahmadinejad as one of their captors.

"Given the nature of the regime and his own past, I don’t think it should be surprising," said Mr McClellan, who also repeated American criticisms of the recent Iranian elections, saying that "hand-picked candidates" had been allowed to run and that the elections were "well short of free and fair".

The continuing scrutiny of the White House stood in contrast to the increasing doubts surrounding the photograph that first prompted questions into Mr Ahmadinejad's role in the embassy siege.

On Tuesday, Iran Focus, a London-based Iranian news agency opposed to the President-elect, circulated a well known Associated Press photograph of the crisis, which began in November 1979, saying that it showed Mr Ahmadinejad holding the arm of an American hostage.

But today, an reformist newspaper in Tehran, Shargh, said that the Iranian students shown in the photograph were Ja’afar Zaker, a militant who went on to die in the Iran-Iraq war, and a student known only as Ranjbaran, who was later executed for alleged links to an extreme opposition group.

As for the American hostage shown in the photograph, The Times learnt yesterday that he is Jerry J. Miele, who was working at a communications officer at the Embassy in 1979. Reached at his home today in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, Mr Miele, 66, declined to comment on the photograph but said: "I don't have anything to say about the new President of Iran, I don't want to cause any trouble."

Even though Mr Ahmadinejad's role in the hostage crisis, let alone the photograph, has been widely disputed, not least by other hostage takers who led the capture of the embassy, more American hostages said on Friday that he could have been among their captors.

Barry Rosen, a former press officer at the embassy who now works at Columbia University told Reuters he had no direct memory of Mr Ahmadinejad but supported another former hostage, former Colonel David Roeder, who said yesterday that Mr Ahmadinejad had assisted interrogations of the hostages.

"I feel that if Dave says it’s so then it’s so," said Mr Rosen.

Yesterday, Mr Roeder and four other hostages said they were sure Mr Ahmadinejad had played a significant role in the embassy siege.



TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ahmadinejad; barryrosen; iran; iranianelection; islam; islamicterror; mullahrevolution; waronterror
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1 posted on 07/01/2005 12:52:09 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
When it was clearly shown that the man with the circle around his is NOT the Iranian President, people quickly decided it is the other man in the photo that is the new President. More likely that is for sure, but solid evidence hasn't been produced yet.

And as far as I am concered, does it really matter? Wether he is or is not who the hostages say he is, he is still an enemy of America. Period.

2 posted on 07/01/2005 12:55:27 PM PDT by Phantom Lord (Fall on to your knees for the Phantom Lord)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I think your photo has the wrong head circled. I think the Iranian president is supposed to be the guy to the right of the circled guy.


3 posted on 07/01/2005 12:55:35 PM PDT by SittinYonder (America is the Last Beach)
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To: nuffsenuff; Grampa Dave; Howlin; OXENinFLA; F15Eagle; PhilDragoo; DJ MacWoW; MediaMole

fyi


4 posted on 07/01/2005 12:55:56 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (History is soon Forgotten,)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
And:

No evidence yet Iran leader involved in 1979 siege

******************************************************

From Rooters:

**************************************

No evidence yet Iran leader involved in 1979 siege
Fri Jul 1, 2005 3:00 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it has unearthed no evidence so far to support assertions by former American captives that Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was involved in the 1979 siege of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Several Americans who were held have said they recognized the ultraconservative Ahmadinejad as a ringleader. But two Iranians who were leading figures in the storming of the embassy said he did not take part.

"We continue to look into it to establish the facts," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Asked if the United States was aware of the allegations before the hostages went public, McClellan noted that President Bush had said on Thursday "that he didn't have any information."

Involvement by the new Iranian leader in the 1979-1981 hostage crisis would send a chill through the U.S. government, which has not resumed diplomatic relations with Iran. Fifty-two Americans were held for 444 days.

Ahmadinejad was a founding member of the Office to Foster Unity that planned the seizure.

In Tehran, two members of that group who declined to be named told Reuters that Ahmadinejad did not participate in the siege.

"He believed that we would have to do the same with the Russian Embassy if we stormed the American one, and was against both," said one of the two student leaders. "But he supported the move after it was carried out."

Two other leading members who engineered the siege, Abbad Abdi and Mohsen Mirdamadi, have also denied the reports.

A CIA spokesman said the spy agency was one of several government agencies looking into Ahmadinejad's role in the 1979 revolution. He declined further comment.

The White House spokesman said he could not speak for what information the entire U.S. government might have.

"We're going back and looking at whatever information we have and trying to establish all the facts," McClellan said.

A U.S. official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly, said the U.S. government does have lists identifying Iranians who took part in the hostage crisis but "in some cases, names may not have been known."

The 48-year-old hard-line Tehran mayor was elected president in a landslide a week ago and takes over from reformist President Mohammed Khatami in August. At the time of the hostage-taking Ahmadinejad was a 23-year-old student at the Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran.

Also on Friday, another former hostage, Barry Rosen, told Reuters he never had any contact with Ahmadinejad but believed that if another hostage, former Col. David Roeder, thought it was him, "then I believe him 100 percent."

Rosen was a U.S. Embassy press attache in Tehran when student militants stormed the compound. In 1998, Rosen met with one of his captors, Abbas Abdi, in a gesture of reconciliation.

"I can only say from my own point of view, I never did see him so I don't know that is the individual standing next to one of my colleagues," Rosen said.

"I feel that if Dave says it's so then it's so," he added. (Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and David Morgan in Washington and Amir Paivar from Tehran)


5 posted on 07/01/2005 1:02:25 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (History is soon Forgotten,)
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To: SittinYonder

"I think your photo has the wrong head circled. I think the Iranian president is supposed to be the guy to the right of the circled guy."

They all look like hellfire missile targets to me.


6 posted on 07/01/2005 1:03:08 PM PDT by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
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To: SittinYonder; Ernest_at_the_Beach
I think your photo has the wrong head circled. I think the Iranian president is supposed to be the guy to the right of the circled guy.

Ernest et al have fingered the guy on the far right. It's the press spreading the disinfo. Makes you wonder why. Btw, I read on another thread that one of the hostages pointed out the guy on the far right too.

7 posted on 07/01/2005 1:03:33 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

LOL! They are looking at the wrong guy too.


8 posted on 07/01/2005 1:04:40 PM PDT by nuffsenuff
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To: SittinYonder
I think your photo has the wrong head circled. I think the Iranian president is supposed to be the guy to the right of the circled guy.

There was a lot of debate about that on several threads last night, which is why I posted this article.

The keyword AHMADINEJAD

will get you to the ones I know about...

9 posted on 07/01/2005 1:05:30 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (History is soon Forgotten,)
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To: Admin Moderator
Dumb question, is the Smokey the Bear fundraising icon deliberate civil disobedience?

18 USC Sec. 711

Sec. 711. ''Smokey Bear'' character or name -STATUTE- Whoever, except as authorized under rules and regulations issued by the Secretary of Agriculture after consultation with the Association of State Foresters and the Advertising Council, knowingly and for profit manufactures, reproduces, or uses the character ''Smokey Bear'', originated by the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Association of State Foresters and the Advertising Council for use in public information concerning the prevention of forest fires, or any facsimile thereof, or the name ''Smokey Bear'' shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

10 posted on 07/01/2005 1:07:47 PM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Truth has become so rare and precious she is always attended to by a bodyguard of lies.)
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To: nuffsenuff; DJ MacWoW

This would seem to verify that the original photo certainly had the wrong guy circled....but they are saying the guy on the right was someone other than the new President.....have we got a Psyc Op going on by the Iranian Mullahs?


11 posted on 07/01/2005 1:08:52 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (History is soon Forgotten,)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

It's looking like BOTH sides want this to go away.

I understand how the Iranians want to make it go away, but c'mon. The CIA HAS to know that's the same guy.

I could tell with the naked eye.

It's like they're trying to tell me the sky isn't blue when I'm looking right at it.


12 posted on 07/01/2005 1:12:43 PM PDT by nuffsenuff
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
.have we got a Psyc Op going on by the Iranian Mullahs?

I read somewhere on FR last night that Iran was careful to say that the new Pres had nothing to do with storming the Embassy or guarding the "prisoners". Notice the omissions. The hostages stated he was not a guard.

13 posted on 07/01/2005 1:13:11 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I don't think it's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, I'm not sure where John Kerry was around this time. Hmmmmmm.


14 posted on 07/01/2005 1:21:17 PM PDT by GreenHornet
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To: GreenHornet

Geez, why doesn't someone just check out the guy's high school yearbook? Maybe there's a younger photo of him with his arm around his prom date or something. This is the only logical conclusion.


15 posted on 07/01/2005 1:27:03 PM PDT by Azzurri
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To: Azzurri
Old photo of the Pres and the hostage taker.
16 posted on 07/01/2005 1:34:11 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: DJ MacWoW

Who's the guy with the rag over his head? Is that Jimmah Cattor?

Sorry, bad taste, but I couldn't help myself.


17 posted on 07/01/2005 1:39:47 PM PDT by Adiemus
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To: DJ MacWoW

It's amazing the fashion toll the 70s exacted, even in furthest Persia.


18 posted on 07/01/2005 1:40:38 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Dead?
All dead?
All of them?

How convenient.
Before they died, did they have names? Families? Any means to confirm the existence and identity of the slimeballs, whatever their names?

19 posted on 07/01/2005 1:49:43 PM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are ignorance, stupidity and hydrogen)
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To: Azzurri

This may come as a shock to you, but 7th century cultures don't have high school yearbooks or proms.


20 posted on 07/01/2005 1:52:54 PM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are ignorance, stupidity and hydrogen)
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