Free Republic

For the second straight year, U.S. Navy veteran Michael White spent his birthday suffering in a horrible Iranian prison. The Iranian regime must release all American and foreign hostages!

"It was a mistake, it's our fault, and we apologize for our mistake." You’ve heard of the Geneva Convention, right? Both the U.S. and Iran are signatories to it (unlike, say, Al Qaeda or ISIS), and signatories agree among other things that when they detain people from other nations for border incursions, they will not release photos or other images of them for the purpose of humiliating them. So surely Iran, considering the favorable treatment it’s received of late from the United States, wouldn’t treat U.S. sailors that way - especially in a situation that resulted from a mere no-harm-no-foul...

WEST POINT, N.Y. — Former Iranian hostage Barry Rosen touched down on an American tarmac 30 years ago and spilled into the arms of a wife and two young children lost to him during 444 days of captivity. Then came the exhilarating bus ride to West Point along a route lined with yellow ribbons and thousands of cheering people, waving and chanting, "USA! USA!"

Iran hostage crisis, in U.S. history, events following the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979. The overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi of Iran by an Islamic revolutionary government earlier in the year had led to a steady deterioration in Iran-U.S. relations. In response to the exiled shah's admission (Sept., 1979) to the United States for medical treatment, a crowd of about 500 seized the embassy. Of the approximately 90 people inside the embassy, 52 remained in captivity until the end of the crisis.

Thousands of Iranians chanted "Death to America" and vowed not to yield to U.S. pressure over Iran's nuclear program at a demonstration on Sunday marking the 28th anniversary of the seizure of the American embassy.

Barry Rosen, executive director of public and external affairs at Borough of Manhattan Community College, was a hostage in Iran from 1979 to 1981. He studied Iranian culture at Columbia University. I wonder what the Founding Fathers would think of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University tomorrow. They instilled the belief in all of us: Everyone has the right of free speech. But I believe they'd be in a quandary about this one. I'd certainly like to talk to James Madison, who drafted our Bill of Rights, and ask him whether Ahmadinejad deserves that right. Ahmadinejad is a reprehensible leader...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The White House said Thursday it is taking seriously the allegations by former hostages that Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran a quarter century ago. President Bush told foreign reporters he has "no information, but obviously his involvement raises many questions." "As soon as I saw the face, it rang a lot of bells to me," Don Sharer, who served as the embassy's naval attache at the time, told CNN. "...Take 20 years off of him. He was there. He was there in the background, more...

Clooney Company Working on Tehran Film August 13, 2007 A/P KNOXVILLE, Md. -- George Clooney's production company is writing a script for a movie based on the true story of a CIA fake-identity expert who smuggled six Americans out of Iran while dozens of others were being held hostage there. "Escape From Tehran" is in development but hasn't been approved for production, Stan Rosenfield, a spokesman for Smoke House productions, told The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail for a story published Monday. The trade journal Variety has reported that the script will be a "dramedy" — a humorous drama — and that Clooney...

The story of the American hostages who spent 444 days in Iran is now more than a quarter century old and rarely told in the detail that it deserves. I should know. I was one of them. Because the 52 of us who suffered the ordeal now number only 42, I was excited to read Mark Bowden’s latest book, “Guests of the Ayatollah.” With many of us approaching our 60s, 70s and beyond, I had begun to believe the story would never be completely and properly told. Most Americans believe the beginning of modern terrorism against the United States began...

Carter: Bush pursuing 'erroneous' policy 41 minutes ago Former President Carter, who helped broker the historic Camp David peace accord, said President Bush has pursued an "erroneous policy" that has fostered violence in the Middle East. Carter said the United States should work for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and the world community should concentrate on a long-term solution, but he is uncertain whether Bush can accomplish a cease-fire. "It depends on whether world opinion is strong enough to get the administration to change its erroneous policy, which has been to encourage the continuation of attacks on both...

President Bush has pursued an "erroneous policy" that has fostered violence in the Middle East, said former President Jimmy Carter, who brokered the historic Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. "In my opinion, maybe the worst ally Israel has had in Washington has been the George W. Bush administration, which hasn't worked to bring a permanent peace to Israel," Carter said Friday during a stop in West Michigan. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, were here as part of a fundraiser for their son, Jack Carter, who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat in Nevada. The $500-a-person event, attended by...

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2005 – America today honored eight American servicemen who died trying to rescue American hostages in Iran 25 years ago. A ceremony here, on the 25th anniversary of their deaths, brought together the families of those killed, their comrades and those servicemembers who carry on the special operations mission. In November 1'7' Iranian militants took 53 Americans in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran hostage. It was the most egregious violation of the principles of diplomacy in the history of statecraft, L. Bruce Laingen, the highest-ranking American taken hostage, said at today's ceremony. On April 25, 1'80, the...

Sadly, watching the end of Hardball tonight, I just realized that today is the 25th anniversary of Operation Eagle Claw, the heroic, but doomed mission to rescue the American hostages held for over a year in the US embassy in Tehran.

WASHINGTON - It was a quarter-century ago this month, April 24, 1980, that the secret American raid into Iran to rescue 53 hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran collapsed in disaster on a make-shift airstrip in the middle of the Iranian desert. The embarrassingly public failure of the raid, code-named Operation Eagle Claw, was a low-water mark for the Carter administration and for our military as well, still struggling to get back on its feet in the wake of the debacle in Vietnam just five years before. Eight American servicemen died when the raid came apart with the fiery...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

A man taken hostage 25 years ago in Iran revisits those memories. On November 4th, 1979, Iranian militants stormed into the American embassy in Tehran and took 52 people hostage, including former US Navy Capt. Don Sharer. On Tuesday, the Exchange Club of Terre Haute honored Sharer for his military service. He reminded club members to honor all veterans, and those serving our country right now. Sharer was held prisoner in Iran for 444 days, and says he never lost hope that he would come home alive. "Whatever I did, I said I want to be proud of myself. I`m...

We don't need a "commission" to find out how 9-11 happened. The truth is in the timeline: PRESIDENT CARTER, DEMOCRAT In 1979, President Jimmy Carter allowed the Shah of Iran to be deposed by a mob of Islamic fanatics. A few months later, Muslims stormed the U.S. Embassy in Iran and took American Embassy staff hostage. Carter retaliated by canceling Iranian visas. He eventually ordered a disastrous and humiliating rescue attempt, crashing helicopters in the desert. PRESIDENT REAGAN, REPUBLICAN The day of Reagan's inauguration, the hostages were released. In 1982, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was bombed by Muslim extremists....

Columnist Cal Thomas used a recent column to advocate the Reagan approach to dealing with terrorism and threats to our national security. He wrote, "On the day of Ronald Reagan's Inauguration in 1981, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini released 52 American hostages he had held for 444 days. He had kept them that long because he realized a weak and indecisive President Jimmy Carter…wasn't going to employ force to get them back. The ayatollah rightly feared Mr. Reagan might turn Iran into a parking lot if he didn't let our people go." That sounds good, but the fact is that about two...