AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE--DAY ONE:

Teheran Students Seize U.S Embassy And Hold Hostages (REUTERS, Nov. 4, 1979, Special to The New York Times)

Moslem students stormed the United States Embassy in Teheran today, seized about 90 Americans and vowed to stay there until the deposed Shah was sent back from New York to face trial in Iran. [...]

In the holy city of Qum, a spokesman for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini said the occupation of the embassy had the revolutionary leader's personal support.

The long road to 9-11 is littered with numerous corpses and more than enough blame to go around, but surely America's failure to act when its citizens were taken hostage in Teheran in 1979 must be considered a significant contributor to the perception of Islamic radicals that they could strike us with impunity. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 4, 2002 9:33 PM