Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference West Point, New York
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter. I d like to ask Mr. Limbert or Mr. Tomseth or someone in the political section, do you think Washington should have known better than to let the Shah into the United States and how did Washington tell you to explain the Shah s entry into the US to Iranians screaming outside your gates? Victor Tomseth. Go ahead John. (laughter) John Limbert. Thank you, Vic. Victor Tomseth. That s an order. John Limbert. Really as far as if Washington should have known better than to do this or that is really something I can t speak to. When you re in the embassy in Tehran or wherever, it seems that Washington should always know better. That you always know better what Washington should do. This is natural among Foreign Service officers.
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter. I d like to address a comment please to Kathryn Koob. Kathryn you touched the hearts of all Americans and particularly the people of your home state of Iowa with your song at Christmas time. I wonder if you would elaborate for us at this moment as to exactly what prompted you to sing that song and what your feelings were. You looked as though you were extremely tired and weary. Had you lost hope at that time or what? Kathryn Koob. No. That is a favorite Christmas carol, a traditional Christmas carol that is sung in our family. I was concerned about the reaction of my nieces and my nephews to my captivity. From the things I had heard from my family I knew they were well aware of it. Christmas to us, in our family, is centered around the Christ Child and our worship service. It was my way of sharing Christmas with my nieces and nephews. And also praying with all of the people who were praying for us because that was a prayer verse that I sang.
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter. I d like you to address, and someone else who might have a perspective on it, about the students. Did you have a sense from your foreign ministry position that they were responsive to some outside force or were they simply an anarchic entity in and of themselves? And I wonder if I could get both your perspective and someone who was on the other side. Bruce Laingen. I suggest that Vic Tomseth address that one on my behalf. I think he and I are in agreement. Victor Tomseth. In dealing with Iran throughout this period there was always the question of who s in charge. And frequently among ourselves we made the comment that nobody s in charge and everybody s in charge. It was fairly clear to us that the students did have at least one mentor in the person of a Mousavi Khoeiniha who certainly subsequent to the seizure of the embassy played a fairly important role within the government. At the same time however, my own view is that it is not very likely there was prior knowledge at least on any extensive degree within the formal government at the time that was headed by Prime Minister Bazargan regarding the plans to seize the embassy. Although several of the students and Mousavi Khoeiniha did indicate subsequent to the seizure that it had been in accordance with a previous plan. Reporter. did anybody else outside the embassy influence on them? Victor Tomseth. I think that very unlikely quite frankly. Bruce Laingen. John Graves can speak for the outside group, or the inside group however you want to put it. John Graves. I was taken from the compound so I can perhaps talk a little bit about the people who captured us and guarded us during our long stay in Iran. I m uncomfortable with the fact that much of what I see in the press seems to be an almost willful distortion or deluding, a sort of wishful thinking. I think there s enormous evidence, completely cogent evidence, for the proposition that people who took us, captured us, were students, legitimate students. I don t think there s any doubt of that at all. As to their goals, it would take me a great deal of time to explain what they were up to. Well, I can tell you, maybe intrigue you, with the fact that in my opinion at least and I m very sure of this, they were not interested in the outset in getting the Shah back. That was a pretext or a way of getting the masses to respond. So that much of what s been written or said about the people who captured us is pretty wide of the mark. They were students.
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter. I m a Latin American journalist here in the press conference. I m the only Latin American journalist here. I m from Chile, South America Santiago, Chile. I would like to ask Mr. Lange what do you think would have been the end of this experience if Mr. Reagan would have been the President of the United States while you were in captivity in Iran. Bruce Laingen. Well, I suppose that s a hypothetical question and I think I ll treat it that way. I have every confidence we would have all been here as well.
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter. I d like to address Mr. Jones. Being the only Black American that was kept in captivity this long, sir, you were quoted as saying that you felt like an animal kept in a zoo. I wonder if you can enlarge on that. And were you treated any differently than the rest of the hostages. Charles Jones. On the first part of the question, as far as I felt like an animal in the zoo, that was for all of us. We were fed at certain times, we were being watched all the time. In other words, that s what I was talking about. I wasn t talking about being mistreated as an animal in a zoo. And as far as my treatment, as compared to the other hostages, it was the same.
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter. We had reports at the very end of this ordeal the last few hours on inauguration day that you were being detained for some reason. They had difficulty gathering you up from various spots where you were being held around the town. Can you tell us about any problems you might have had or may have observed of the Iranian officials having difficulty obtaining your release from your actual captors. Bruce Laingen. I have no evidence of that at the last moments. Reporter. Were you all together in one spot, on the transfer to the airport Reporter. I believe we were all together in a group of buildings by that point. The three of us, I think were the last to join probably from a prison. But I believe all of our colleagues by that time had been taken to that area and there was to that extent at least, evidence of administrative organization or efficiency among and between the governments and whatever the student militants were at that point which is rather unclear to me as yet.
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter. You ve all been together spiritually for 14 months and many of you physically, what kind of bonds have you developed as a group. And what emotions do you feel as you re about to separate and go your separate ways. Bruce German. Well I think that generally, we ve had a general feeling of camaraderie. And we are bound together by this whole experience. We re 52 unique people and now that we re going to disperse, we re all anxious to get home to our various families, friends and respective home towns Richard Morefield. I complete concur in that opinion. And I think it was especially intense with our actual roommates. At one time Bruce and I were roommates. That s all.
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter. This question is to you as well as to all the others. You ve been called heroes by much of the media as well as the people you ve talked to. Do you consider yourself a hero? Bruce German. No, as a matter of fact I don t. The only thing I can say is if we ve contributed in any way to the unity of the United States of America that s really what it s all about. As far as being a hero, I do not consider myself one, no. William Daugherty. I d like to say that I think it s almost unanimous among us that the real heroes of this event have been the families. We knew what was happening to us, the families did not. We did not experience the rollercoaster emotions - released tomorrow, no you re not going to be released, released next week, no you re not. We were incommunicado, we had absolutely no idea. It was pretty much 14 months of just sitting back, reading and sleeping and walking five steps and turning and walking five more.
Returning Iran Hostages Press Conference - Audio qulaity is natural to master
Reporter for Kathryn Koob. Ms. Koob we ve been following your family in the Tampa Bay area from the beginning of your captivity. We ve found them to be very religious people as I m sure you are. In light of your religion, how did you view your captivity and also did the Iranians show any religious prejudice toward you? And for Colonel Scott, did the Iranians show any prejudice to you being a military person. Kathryn Koob. No, there was no particular religious prejudice evidenced to me by the students. As a matter of fact there were questions and an opportunity to talk about that. They were open questions, honest questions. As for my personal experience, I decided that I was there and I didn t know why I was there, God probably had something in mind for me to do either then or later. As someone I talked to later said you were in a little bit of combat training. And I guess that was it. Col. Charles Scott. On the question of whether or not the Iranians showed any prejudice in their treatment toward the military, I really can t answer that very objectively because in most cases I wasn t around other people to see how they were treated. But I can say this without fear of contradiction, they certainly didn t hold the military in any high esteem or favor us in any way.