Otherwise, the students who occupied our embassy would have been suicides.
I don't know if you've seen Mark Bowden's documentary or read his book "Guests of the Ayatollah". Bowden wrote "Blackhawk Down", and recently came out with his book on the hostage crisis. Both books are excellent, and the documentary is fascinating.
The embassy was in the process of being stormed when the Marines were ordered to stand down, not the other way around. Had they not stood down during the assault, there would have been a gun battle instead, and some of the assaulters would have died, but that's not exactly the same thing as a suicide bombing attack. It would have been more of a suicidal defense, for the Americans.
Thanks. I'll have to check that out.