Over the Christmas Holidays I was fortunate enough to hear an interview with Rocky Sickmann, who is currently the Director of Military Sales for Anheuser-Busch. in 1979 he was a 22 year-old Marine at the US Embassy.
He stated that although he was armed, they were under strict orders to not engage, even as the *students* swarmed and overwhelmed the compound.
It was his opinion that he should have fired. He felt that virtually all subsequent Islamic attacks on US interests from the Beirut barracks to 9/11 arose from our failure to show resolve and strength at the onset of the Iranian hostage crisis. He tearfully said that he would give up everything he has, including his job, his family and grandchild if he could go back to that day and pull the trigger.