The Iranian Hostage Crisis Part Deux
Al Ritter
On November 4, 1979 The Iranian revolution took 52 hostages in the American Embassy and held them for 444 days. They were upset at two actions the Americans took to support the Shah of Iran. President Carter toasted the Shah at a state dinner in Washington extolling the Shah’s popularity in his home country. Later when the Shah asked for a received medical treatment in America, the militants over threw the government and stopped oil production. Later the oil production restarted but never recovered to the pre insurrection rate when the Shah was in power.
The result was a fuel shortage not previously seen in America. At that time the price of oil per barrel was at a low $15.85! Once Ronald Reagan took office in 1980 some 30 minutes into his Presidency the hostages were released. Reagan also took active steps that drove gas prices down in a 20 decline. Mexico, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Russia all increased production to minimize the drop in production from Iran. Drilling in Prudhoe Bay along with the Alaska Pipeline further dropped prices, and reduced our dependency on foreign oil.
Flash to 2012, now Iran wants nuclear weapons, and the world court doesn’t want them to have those weapons. The new version of the human hostages of 1979 is the Strait of Hormuz, as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has threated to close the main water way that transports every one in 5 barrels that are exported from that region. The mere threat has already been felt in America as the price of gas is skyrocketing.
There is one major difference now, the President we have in our Whitehouse hates fossil fuel, especially oil that we produce! He recently denied passage of the Keystone XL pipeline, because there “hasn’t been enough time to study it.” 35 years in the making and the result would mean tens of thousands of American jobs and an alliance with a country friendly to America, rather than radical Islamic counties.
The hostages in this picture are the Strait of Hormuz and the American people. It’s rather hard to differentiate between one hostage taker and the other Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Barack Obama they both seem bent on destroying America. I only hope we will have a modern day equivalent of Ronald Reagan to ride in and save the America we know and love in 2013.
