Mark Bowden - Guests of the Ayatollah

In the interregnum…for the first time in more than a year, Turner’s Terrorism and Democracy (TD), McFadden, NHP, Associated Press chronology, Carter, KF, Jordan, C, TV news tapes from the Carter Center Library, Sick, AFD. At the end…suite in groups, Daugherty, Scott, Ahern, Laingen, Tomseth, Howland, Koob. For the hostages’…flicker of hope, Hall, TV videotapes from the Carter Center Library, Metrinko, Roeder. Kathryn Koob and Ann Swift…terminates the conversation, Koob, Ebtekar, TV videotapes from the Carter Center Library, 444 Days to Freedom, Metrinko, Roeder, Morefield, Laingen, YR.

Before Laingen…were solid, Laingen. If the students believed…sense of completion and accomplishment, McFadden, NHP, Carter, KF, Christopher, CL, Associated Press chronology, Sick, AFD, TV news tapes from the Carter Center Library. Two days before…interrogator departed, Daugherty. Sheikh-ol-eslam…he said, Ahern. John Limbert…on their way, Limbert, Koob, Golacinski, Howland, Hermening, Laingen, Sickmann, Metrinko, Kupke. Carter had reluctantly abandoned his plan…waiting for news from Tehran, Carter, KF, Christopher, CL, McFadden, NHP, Sick, AFD, Brzezinski, P&P, TV news tapes from the Carter Center Library, Jordan, C, AP. Mehrabad Airport…he felt relaxed, videotapes from the Carter Center Library, Sickmann, Hermening, Royer, Tomseth, Koob, Limbert, Laingen, Hall, Belk, Scott (interviews and PG), Lopez, Roeder, Metrinko, Gallegos, Ahern, Kupke, Golacinski. President Reagan made the announcement…they started to dance, TV news tapes from the Carter Center Library and the Morefield family, 444 Days to Freedom.

I have never had so much help in writing a book, and I’m afraid now I have been permanently spoiled. I would like to thank Morgan Entrekin, David Bradley, and Scott Rudin for their enthusiastic and generous support of this project. Michael Oreskes and Vivian Schiller of The New York Times (and Discovery-Times) made the companion documentary possible.

My research assistant Terrence Henry has been invaluable. He joined me in this project soon after I started it, and over the years I came to lean on him more and more. I might have been able to write this book without him, but it would have taken me twenty years and it would still be missing bits and pieces of information he cleverly unearthed from the National Archives and the Carter Center in Atlanta. My cousins David and Arcadia Keane, and my son Aaron Bowden (along with the rest of the talented folks at Wild Eyes Productions) signed on early to make the companion documentary for the Discovery-Times channel, and effectively became my collaborators. David and Arcadia made one reporting trip to Tehran, and David accompanied me on my two trips, and I owe them a great debt for their help, companionship, and a terrific place to stay in Hermosa Beach. Aaron wrote the documentary and chipped in on a lot of the interviewing, traveling all over America, and my gratitude toward him is mixed with a huge helping of fatherly pride.

I would also like to thank Tim Wells for the extraordinary early reporting he did on this story, all of which is deposited in a special collection at the Duke University Library, where my own notes, transcripts, and files will be donated. Wells was gracious and extraordinarily generous in sharing his work. Ramin Mostaqim was our guide and translator in Tehran, and he threw himself into the work like the talented journalist he is. I would also like to thank Michael Hornburg for his careful and patient copyediting, Ron Bernstein, Christina Asquith, Jennie Dunham, Scott Manning, Jamison Stoltz, Kaveh Ehsani, and Nikki Faratsatpour.

Lastly, I would like to thank the participants in this story who worked hard to make sure I told it accurately, most of all John Limbert, Michael Metrinko, Bill Daugherty, Dave Roeder, Mike Howland, Bruce Laingen, Bucky Burruss, and Logan Fitch.

Abadan oil refinery

Aban the thirteenth

Abbas

ABC

ABC News review of Pahlavi’s life

Abdi, Abbas

AC-130 gunships

activism. See demonstrations

Afghanistan, Soviet invasion of

African-American hostages. See also ethnicity, race, and racism; Jones, Charles; Quarles, William released

Agah, Ali

Ahern, Tom

after returning home

background

beatings

capture of

charged with spying for CIA

coping and response to captivity

Daugherty and

destruction of sensitive files

Ebtekar and

interrogations

and capitulation

Laingen and

moved downstairs

moved to Tehran mansion guesthouse

opening vault door

prospect of death

release and return home

report to Turner

Roeder and

Simon Farzami and

solitude

suicide considered by

Ahmad

Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud

Akbar

Chuck Scott and

Bowden’s search for

Akmed

Alavitabar, Alizera

Algeria, as intermediary for negotiations

Algerian diplomats

Algiers, meeting in

Ali (friend of Metrinko). See Sharsar, Ali

“ Allahuakbar! ”

Amaz

American-Iranian Crisis Resolution Committee. See also Forer group

Amir Kabir University

School of Mechanics

as strictly Islamist

Anders, Bob

Anderson, John

Anglo-Iran Oil Company

Arafat, Yasir

artists in Iran

Asgharzadeh, Ibrahim

as author of embassy takeover

interview with

Ashura

Asquith, Christina

assassination attempts

Assembly of Experts

Ayatollah in the Cathedral, The (Kennedy)

Bahktiari, Teymour

Baltimore Evening Sun

Bancroft, Ken

Bani-Sadr, Abolhassan

accused of being CIA agent

Brzezinski on

Carter and

CIA’s effort to recruit

claimed U.S. did not live up to its part of bargain

downfall as foreign minister

elected president

Hamilton Jordan’s letter to

on hostage crisis

on hostage takers

interviews

Khomeini and presidency of

on need for U.S. to “apologize”

paranoid tendencies

powerlessness and isolation from religious hard-liners

as president

on release of hostages

on return of shah

secret plan and

on seizure of Iran embassy in London

speeches

today

and transfer of hostages to Foreign Ministry

and UN commission to study shah’s crimes

on United States

“washing his hands” of hostage mess

barber shop in Mushroom Inn

Barnes, Cort

Barrow, Robert

Bassiri, Victoria

Bazargan, Mehdi

BBC

Beckwith, Charlie

adding men to assault force

authorized to slip two men into Tehran

background and description of

“Bob” and

Carter and

Christmas 1979 and

concern for secrecy

Delta Force and. See also Delta Force; rescue mission

Eagle Claw and

list of concerns

meeting with Logan Fitch

reaction to hostage crisis

reconnaissance flight and

rescue mission and

Vaught’s communications with

Behesti, Mohammed

Belk, Bill

allergic reaction to insect bite

background

escape attempts

Hohman and

hunger strike

interrogations

Kalp and

Limbert and

“marvelous coup”

mock execution and

moved to separate room

release and return home

stole radio from guard

Subic and

wife

“Big Ali”