Hostages

("O Superman" by Laurie Anderson playing)

Laurie Anderson: The song "O Superman" was my response

to that disastrous helicopter rescue

of hostages in Iran,

and it was a big humiliation for the United States.

Big technology was gonna run in there and save the day,

and instead, we crashed and burned in the desert.

And it was just unbelievably...

humiliating and disastrous.

Virgil Sickman: We got eight dead bodies and, uh,

the only thing we can do now is live in fear.

And maybe we'll have 50 more bodies over there.

And Lord knows

what the reaction of the militants will be.

We'll have to see.

John Limbert: After the rescue mission,

some of us were moved around the country.

At one point, I was in a villa which probably had belonged

to someone from the previous regime.

One day, I went to take a shower,

and I found a newspaper, a Persian newspaper,

that the students had used to line a shelf.

And so, I just stole the newspaper,

stuffed it in my pants, and learned

the basics, that there had been a mission,

that it had failed,

and that there had been American casualties.

I felt real sorrow at these losses of people,

and also the sense of, well, we're not forgotten.

I think it was a victory for Iran in terms of prestige,

in terms of its own power, unfortunately.

William Kupke: Don't look too good to me, be honest with you.

There ain't much a guy out here can do.

We've got guys up there running this world, and...

them's the guys ought to know what they're doing.

That's what we put 'em there for.

Lesley Stahl: The country took this idea

that we failed

as a huge defeat of us,

you know, America.

It was a devastating blow.

God bless 'em. I mean, they really did come

and try to get us.

They tried. They tried.

But I knew nothing about it at that time.

They came in and started dragging people out,

and off I went.

-(quiet chatter) -(shutters snapping)

That's the day they put me into Evin Prison,

down in that dungeon.

It was all of about

three feet wide and seven feet long.

Nothing in there except for a steel door,

something thin on the floor, but that was it.

I was six or seven stories below ground.

You couldn't see anything.

And as time kept going by,

it just felt like, wow, this is it.

So, I decided I was gonna smash my head into the door...

-(thud) -...hard enough that that would be

the end of it.

But then, I kinda thought it through.

I wanted to make it home.

Good evening. The deposed Shah of Iran,

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,

died early this morning in Cairo.

Alex Brodie: Tehran Radio ran the news under the headline,

"The Bloodsucker of the Century is Dead."

Garrick Utley: He was 60 years old and far from home.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: If I let my people down,

I tried my best, but I could not succeed.

But I believe that it's up to the people of Iran

to make their judgments.

Robert Armao: The Shah was really a gentleman.

A kind, sincere gentleman.

When he died, I felt this poor guy got

the bad end of the stick. But, you know,

history will vindicate him.

President Sadat pulled out all the stops.

State funeral.

John Chancellor: The Shah's former allies,

including the United States,

sent no high officials to attend.

John Hart: Aside from President Sadat, the highest-ranking mourners

were two others who had lost power abruptly:

the deposed king of Greece and Richard Nixon.

Richard Nixon: I have known him for over 30 years,

and the Shah,

over that whole period of time and even longer,

has been one of the most loyal friends

and allies of the United States.

And his treatment

can only be a warning to other friends

of the United States that we can't be counted on

when they have troubles.

And I think that's very unfortunate.

Hart: An Egyptian Shiite imam prayed briefly,

saying, "Oh God,

"if you deal with him as he deserves,

"then he deserves it.

"And if you deal with him by your generosity,

you are the bestower of forgiveness and mercy."

Parvaneh Limbert: When Shah died, I felt maybe then

they will release them.

But they didn't.

They didn't.

(Ebrahim Asgharzadeh speaking Persian)

John Ghazvinian: From the beginning of 1980,

it's very difficult to tell exactly who's running Iran.

The students are telling the government,

"No, we won't release the hostages."

And in the midst of this, there's an election for president.

(Ayatollah Khomeini speaking Persian)

Mohsen Sazegara: In the first presidential election,

Abolhassan Bani-Sadr

won the election and became the first president.

Bani-Sadr was educated in France

and was eager to have a good relationship

with at least European countries.

Reporter: The Americans hoped that Bani-Sadr would be able

to curb the power of the students and the mullahs.

(Abolhassan Bani-Sadr: speaking French)

Ghazvinian: Bani-Sadr felt this crisis was embarrassing Iran,

and he really wanted to bring the crisis to an end.

Mike Wallace: Mr. President,

do you know who controls the hostages

and where they are and how they are?

Mansour Farhang: No, I do not know where they are.

Wallace: You are not to be trusted with the knowledge

of even where they are?

Farhang: When I say I don't know,

it doesn't mean that I'm completely ignorant.

I know that they have been taken

to various cities throughout Iran.

When I say I don't know,

I am referring to the question of responsibility.

I am not at all responsible.

Bani-Sadr had absolutely no power.

Khomeini was the uncontested leader of Iran.

At that time, the degree of mistrust

between the two countries was so...

high that, uh,

negotiation was taboo at that time.

It meant giving in

to the will of a superpower.

Kathryn Koob: After the rescue attempt,

the students had taken a lot of the men

off of the embassy compound into places around Iran.

Ann and I were left in the embassy.

September 22nd, I remember that

I was in the bathroom,

and I heard this music start, and I thought,

-what is going on? -(band music playing)

The military band style being blared

all over the city of Tehran.

-(military band playing) -(crowd singing)

There was stuff being shot up into the air.

We couldn't figure out what was happening.

A day or so later, they told us

Iraq had invaded Iran.

For all practical purposes, though they haven't declared it,

Iran and Iraq tonight are at war.

-(military band playing) -(soldiers singing in Persian)

Chancellor: Part of the Iraqi-Iranian border area is a barren desert

with an important waterway running through it,

the Shatt Al-Arab. Iraq wants control of it.

-(street noise) -(baby crying)

-Wallace: Who's your leader? -(soldier translates)

Khomeini.

-Wallace: Khomeini? -Soldier: Imam Khomeini, yes.

Sazegara: During the war between Iran and Iraq,

a million people were killed.

Larry Pintak: Reports of widespread civilian casualties.

Sometimes, I said to myself that, oh god.