In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran | William J. Daugherty

In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran | William J. Daugherty | A Timely Review for Those Who Remember

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In the Shadow of t...

	In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran William J. Daugherty US Naval Institute Press, 2001 - 258 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Still vivid in many Americans' memories are the 444 days of 1979 when Islamic militants held U.S. diplomatic personnel hostage in Iran. Though their story has been told before, never has it been related from such a perspective. Unique among the hostages, the author was an officer for the Central Intelligence Agency serving at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Once his CIA connection was discovered, Bill Daugherty became a special target of his captors and was subjected to extraordinarily harsh treatment. He managed to survive the ordeal by relying upon his Marine Corps training and combat experience and his remarkable inner reserve of fortitude. Ultimately he was awarded the State Department Medal of Valor and the CIA Exceptional Service Medal. Drawing on intelligence information not readily available to previous writers, recently declassified materials, interviews with such key government officials as former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and former CIA director and ambassador to Iran Richard Helms, and to his own firsthand knowledge, Daugherty sheds light on this disturbing event, particularly with respect to the decision-making process in the White House. Among his revelations is the involvement of the Soviet Union. Despite his personal involvement, Daugherty has produced an impressively objective account of the tragedies and triumphs that marked this black time in U.S. history. It is both a harrowing adventure story and a serious look at U.S.-Iran relations. The pivotal event continues to evoke emotions and begs careful analysis for potential lessons learned.

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Resist Terror and Survive with Class

How can I most effectively resist my captors without being self destructive? This seminal question was answered by Stockdale in Hanoi, taught by Hegdahl in Navy Survival School, and practiced by Daugherty in Tehran. The lessons are all the more important today in our campaign against world terrorists. Once a master of resistance, Daugherty had become a master story teller and his book rings true.This is a must read for anyone going into combat and those who support them.

My review is based on 2,221 days experience as a prisoner of the Communist North Vietnamese and 5,475 days as a clinical social worker working mostly with veterans and active duty personnel.

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A Timely Review for Those Who Remember

Author William Daugherty provides the reader with a review of the incidents leading up to the 1979 taking of American hostages from the American embassy in Iran. The first nine chapters provide you with background information regarding the shah and relations between the the United States and Iran. The author then provides us with details regarding the taking of the embassy by the Iranians, their unskilled attempts at questioning him, the food they were provided to eat, and their movement from one place to another. Author Daugherty believes the embassy would not have been taken over by the Iranians if the shah had come directly to the U.S. from Iran in 1979 for medican treatment. However, it was a mistake to let the shah "roam the world for ten months" before entering the U.S. that led the embassy to be taken over by the Iranians. Bitterness towards then President Carter was in the minds of the former hostages when released. Carter addressed the former hostages and took a few polite questions until a State Department officer commented that the embassy had provided plenty of advance warning of what would happen if the shah entered the United States. Mr. Carter then looked to the floor, raised his head and smiled, and said he wanted his picture taken with each of them. Thus ended the meeting. The author does, however, praise Mr. Carter for his volunteer work since leaving office. The author also does a great job in providing examples of discussions with the Iranian guards and the futility of dealing with people who have closed minds. The Iranians somehow believed that the removal of President Carter in favor of Ronald Reagan would help their cause. They assumed that anyone who was Carter's opponent would be their friend. This despite the fact they were holding Americans against their will, claiming America was their enemy, and desecrating the American flag. I don't have time to list any additional examples here, but page 163 provides an outstanding example of the logic of their reasoning regarding stopping for a traffic light at 2:00 a.m.

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A C.I.A. prisoner of the Iranians.

Daugherty was one of three Case Officers of the C.I.A. in the American Embassy in Tehran when it was seized by Iranian militants in 1979. Daugherty describes his captivity at the hands of the Iranians and gives a short history of Iran-USA relations proceeding the crisis. This is a very informative read, and I think very balanced at least in the view of internal American politics. The author is very forthcoming on how he views his Iranian captors. He concludes and I agree that they were ignorant and naive in their beliefs. Tehran Mary is portrayed at the height of her ignorance when she didn't even know that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. She is now a high official in the Iranian government. Daugherty describes his views on his Iranian captors, and it is not a pretty picture. No wonder the U.S. opposes Iran having nuclear weapons.
The author does a great job of describing his introgation, and internment by the Iranian radicals He successfully opposed them for 444 days. I rated this only four stars, because of the slow start of the book. Otherwise a great book.

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