Today he's well-known for having been the instigator of the takeover of the embassy. He is a reform politician who has spent some time in jail for criticisms of the regime, and he's a newspaper editor whose newspaper, amazingly, is still being published in Iran at a time when most reform newspapers have been shut down.
What a difference 25 years can make.
Did you speak to any young people who are students now in Iran and ask them about their perceptions of the students who took the Americans hostage 25 years ago?
Mr. BOWDEN: Yes, I spoke to a lot. And most of the people who I met and talked to are embarrassed by what happened in 1979. These are young Iranians. They despise the religious regime that runs their country. They chafe under the regulations that govern their lives--what they can wear, where they can go, what they can say. They're frightened of the regime. There were demonstrations--widespread student demonstrations a year ago in Iran that were violently cracked down on, and a number of the key student leaders from campuses have been sent to jail. This has intimidated young people to a great extent in Iran. So, you know, those who are opposed to the existing regime see the takeover of the American Embassy as a founding example of the sort of pariah status that their country has that they would like to end.
But by the same token, there are also still, you know, religious extremists, young people, as well, who are totally on board with the ideology of the regime and with the notion that the United States represents everything evil in the world and who would, I think, gladly sacrifice their lives and attack the United States if they had the opportunity.