(From 2005) Former Hostages Allege Iran's New President Was Captor

CNN ^ | June 30, 2005

[khnyny]

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 like an adviser."

Abbas Abdi, the man well-known to be the leader of the 1979 hostage-takers, told CNN that Ahmadinejad, the Tehran mayor, "absolutely was not" part of the event that involved the captivity of 52 people.

Abdi later became a supporter of reformist President Mohammed Khatami and was recently released from jail for advocating closer ties with the United States.

Iranian officials also deny Ahmadinejad was involved.

The November 4, 1979, embassy takeover followed protests demanding that the United States return the Shah of Iran to Tehran for trial. He had been overthrown by the Islamic revolution 11 months prior and was receiving cancer treatment in New York at the time.

The embassy seizure lasted 444 days and resulted in a botched rescue mission that left eight U.S. soldiers dead and the severance of U.S.-Iranian ties ever since.

The Associated Press, in its archives, has a series of photographs showing a student hostage-taker that some of the former hostages believe to be Ahmadinejad.

[weegee]

The Nutjob’s kneepad brigade simply believe that he’s being “Swiftboated”.

[Seadog Bytes]

...Have you seen this...?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1901188/posts?page=24#24

[Cindy]

Yep.
Thanks for the ping Seadog Bytes.

Jihad — another day.

[TNPatriot]

[Albertafriend]

There is a strong resemblance. Too bad we don’t have a way of comparing the height of these two guys.

[NoBullZone]

I’m not sure we can arrest him (though maybe we can), but I think we should honor his request to visit ground zero - of course, we should give those hard-working Secret Service and LE guys the day off for R&R, and of course no guns for any of the Iranian delegation. I bet there are some workers down there that are pretty effective when they “accidentally” lose grip of a piece of pipe on the back swing! LOL

[RightWingConspirator]

A friend of mine, an Air Force captain at the time of the US Embassy takeover, was a foreign military sales country managers for one of the African countries. The wife of the Iran country manager, also an Air Force Captain, was due to have a baby the first week of November 1979, so he went to my friend and asked him if he would go in his place. My friend, who was going through a divorce, told him no, that he was not familiar with the Iran program and besides he had his own job and personal business to do. The Iran country manager went to their boss and asked his boss to direct my friend to take his place, and their boss did so.

My friend flew to Tehran with the team and successfully completed the in-country review on November 2, 1979. The team was supposed to depart on November 3, and everyone was allowed to depart--except my friend. The pusillanimous charge-de-affairs wouldn't allow him to depart until November 5, because, he explained, "We don't want the Iranians to think we are abandoning them." Unfortunately his departure from Iran was delayed 444 days.

[potlatch]

Thanks Seadog!

[squidward]

Rick Kupke is a great guy, in fact he was just at my house a couple weeks ago. The conversation we had was nothing about the nut from Iran coming to the US, but of how a local jerk broke into his house and stole a large amount of his property he collected from his career working for the government. The guy was caught, but unfortunatley his property was not recovered. Some way to treat a local hero.

Send me a message on who your friend is if you don’t mind. The next time I see Rick I will mention it to him. But then again, I am sure most of the hostages probably keep in touch already.

[squidward]

The Nutjob’s kneepad brigade simply believe that he’s being “Swiftboated”.

I never understood the left’s use of the term “swiftboated.” If they mean using facts to expose somebody as a fraud/terrorist/liar, then I guess the term is accurate.

[weegee]

I agree that the Swift Boat Veterans spoke Truth.

Even here, it would seem there are some “unpleasant truths” being brought up.

I generally refrain from using such terms. I’d much rather see terms like Nifongism, Zogbyism, and Stalinist tactics get wider use.

Funny how the same media elites that re-branded Republican voting majority districts from blue to red also determine which names are remembered and how they are used. Why isn’t Borking named after the Congressmen who did it?