February 3, 1981 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 1605 EXTENSION OF REMARKS HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLU­ images off satellites in space and transmit which made it noteworthy, as did the am­ TION 52 AND TERRORISM them widely and instantly to millions of biguous quasi-governmental nature of the AGAINST DIPLOMATS others a.Cross the globe. In this weird world hostage-keeping, but in themselves they in which we live, fragments of experience hardly explain why this became the "Iran from afar can be hurled into the national crisis" which shook the United States and HON. FLOYD J. FITHIAN consciousness with incredible velocity and involved most of the world. OF INDIANA impact. The effect is all the greater when In Washington's inner circle as well as on IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES the event is not only dramatic and symbolic the outside, the events of Nov. 4, 1979, were but also intensely personal, involving the very personal. The high officials along with Tuesday, February 3, 1981 suspended fate of identifiable people. the rest of the country saw the television The world stage was not lit nor the cam­ pictures of screaming crowds waving their e Mr. FITHIAN. Mr. Speaker, I am in­ eras rolling in 1796, when the United States serting today for the benefit of my col­ fists outside the embassy while the blind­ signed an early day "agreement of Algiers" folded hostages were paraded inside. "I leagues an article taken from the and paid $992,463.25 for the ransom of the knew this was going to be overwhelming," Washington Post of February 1, 1981. passengers and crew of two American ships said Capt. Gary Sick, the NSC staff aide on The article, written by Don Ober­ which had been seized and held by the dey Iranian matters. "In the White House situa­ dorfer, is a persuasive argument in of Algiers for 11 years. The payment of tion room within the first 24 hours I made a favor of the establishment of interna­ ransom by nations was commonplace in commitment, almost like taking vows, that tional mechanisms to deal with terror­ those days. until those people were out that would be Nor was there much commotion beyond a the total priority in my life. We discussed it ism against diplomats. Just such a limited circle in 1829 when a mob of several mechanism would be established by at the dinner table, and my family under­ thousand Persians, egged on by mullahs, stood. From then on, seven days a week House Concurrent Resolution 52, sacked the Russian legation in Tehran, became totally routine and 16-hour days which I recently introduced in the slaughtered nearly all 38 of Moscow's diplo­ were normal." 97th Congress. matic personnel and dragged the body of When all the elements of the United The article follows: the Russian envoy through the streets. The States government were mobilized, due to Russian offense, in Persian eyes, was to give WHY THE HosTAGE CRISIS HELD Us ALL the intense personal interest and commit­ asylum to two girls and a eunuch from the ment of President Carter and the topmost HOSTAGE harem of the shah and his family. There Despite what Americans believe they layer, Sick was receiving 1,000 pages of was no retribution. cables, memoranda and reports per day know, the seizure and abuse of diplomats as In China in 1948-49, following the commu­ well as private citizens abroad is far from nist victory in the civil war, authorities in across his desk, more than he had time even unprecedented; it has been a rather regular Mukden penned up the 10 diplomatic per­ to skim between White House meetings. occurrence during historical periods of tur­ sonnel of the U.S. consulate plus their Chi­ The president himself, as disappointment bulence and revolution. The victims have nese staff and a hapless German who had piled upon disappointment and the Soviet been American, Russian, British and a vari­ stopped by to visit the library. This confine­ invasion of Afghanistan added to the air of ety of other nationalities in a dismayingly ment under rigorous conditions lasted for crisis, seemed a changed man to those long tradition. more than a year, six months of this period around him. "This hostage thing is preying Why then did the seizure, confinement without any contact with the outside world. on his mind. It's almost like it haunts him," and eventual release of 66, later 52, Ameri­ Nobody remembers this now. said Robert Strauss, his campaign manager, can hostages in Tehran strike this country Another Chinese episode during the three months into the long ordeal. with thunderclap force, becoming a crisis of Maoist Cultural Revolution was perhaps the The overwhelming, almost single-minded an overwhelming and all-absorbing nature? closest contemporary parallel to the recent governmental concentration on the event Why did the Carter administration concen­ events in Tehran. In 1967 the British chan­ both arose from and intensified the concen­ trate on this beyond all else in a dangerous cery in Peking was sacked and burned by tration of the press and public. "The emo­ world, to the extent of more than 100 meet­ quasi-official Red Guards, several British tion level of the American people, the pain, ings of the National Security Council or its diplomats were beaten by a mob and subse­ anger and frustration that they felt and crisis coordinating committee within the quently all British diplomats were detained that we felt, was not something the admin­ first six months? And why are Americans in their compound for four months by gov­ istration had control over," recalled NSC likely to remember this travail and release ernment order. At about the same time the aide Sick. "Anybody who suggested in those on the scale of great events, such as the be­ Soviet embassy in Peking was repeatedly at­ early months that this should be played ginning or ending of a full-scale war or the tacked and harassed, with the Russians down would have been laughed at. No public death of a president? counting some 80 government-backed figure could stick his nose out of his office Many factors, foreign and domestic, were "provocations" within 1967 against their without being swamped in the national feel­ involved, but two reasons stand out beyond diplomatic mission or personnel, and an­ ing. The immediacy of it penetrated the all others: other 120 "spontaneous outrages." consciousness and overwhelmed us." First, the plight of the hostages in Iran From 1968 to 1979 the State Department The question persists: Why was this so? seemed to sum up and symbolize a sense of counted 273 terrorist incidents of all sorts No armies were marching, as they were in vulnerability and ineffectiveness in relation against U.S. diplomatic interests overseas. Afghanistan. There was a physical threat to to the rest of the world which had been The Rand Corporation's most recent listing several dozen of the 225 million Americans, growing in this country since the fall of of international terrorist acts against all but no physical threat to the United States. Saigon in 1975, and was rooted in the more countries since 1968 runs to 1,400 incidents. Moreover, it became apparent after a few distant past. Nearly 100 diplomats have been assassinat­ weeks to nearly everyone, as passion in the The nation which had emerged from ed or kidnaped in that period. United States intersected and interacted World War II far and away the most power­ A Rand report issued a few days ago said with passion in Iran, that a quick resolution ful as well as the most admired was increas­ terrorists or other militants have seized em­ was unlikely. ingly frustrated and buffeted by outside bassy facilities of various countries on 43 oc­ Part of the reason was the raw nerve forces beyond its control. National adjust­ casions since 1971, with five of these inci­ touched upon by Jeff Gralnick, executive ment to a more modest role is often painful. dents involving U.S. embassies. "Seizing em­ producer of ABC Television's "World News The taking of a U.S. embassy, a symbolic bassies became a common form of protest Tonight" program, who hit upon the grip­ seat of nationhood, seemed to seize the and coercion in the 1970s," according to ping title of "America Held Hostage" for a nation as well as its diplomatic and military Brian M. Jenkins of Rand. series of late night specials on Iran. Many personnel by the throat. The takeover of the U.S. embassy in Americans completely identified their coun­ Second, and closely related to the first, is Tehran, in this light, involved the seizure of try's fate with that of the hostages. For a new fact of our age with profound signifi­ the largest number of diplomatic personnel, some, the identification was so intense and cance: the ability of human beings with the and for the longest time, of any single con­ personal they told members of hostage fam­ right equipment to bounce sounds and temporary incident. These are distinctions ilies, that they were unable to sleep well as e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insenions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. 1606 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS February 3, 1981 they tossed at night worrying about what or other terrorists who have dramatized financing of gubernatorial elections. would happen next. their causes with violent acts, acted on a cal­ The headline, "Byrne's Brainchild It is too simple to single out instant inter­ culation of personal risk. In fact, the likeli­ Begins To Look Like a Monster" says national mass communications via satellite hood of direct engagement by the United and television, as the only reason for the States could spur some groups to greater it all.