Friday, December 02, 2005
Tehran 1979: A Christmas carol
The story of the "captivity pageant" is a sad one, for it reveals the American hostages in all their frailty. There are collaborators, victims, and -- in the case of Coffin, at least -- posuers of the worst sort. The visiting clergy seemed most concerned with not offending their Iranian hosts. Coffin exhorted the hostages to hold hands with their captors while they sang songs. Imagine how demoralizing -- even degrading -- that must have been to these proud Americans. The very idea turns my stomach, and must remain an everlasting stain on the reputation of Rev. Coffin.
Also consider this passage, in which one of the visiting ministers declined an opportunity to give hope:
Forbidden to talk about politics or the hostages' situation, Colonel Chuck Scott, the embassy's military liaison, a ramrod career Army officer with a square jaw and a defiant demeanor, asked [the Rev. William] Howard intently, "What's the price of gas in America today?" Scott had thought long and hard about what question to ask if he got the chance, and had decided that the current price of oil would help him gauge how events in Iran were playing around the world. Howard looked at the gallery of armed guards and asked them, "I don't suppose I should answer that question, do you?" Scott was annoyed. Why couldn't he just have blurted out an answer? Why was he bending over so far to be helpful to these bastards? (emphasis in the original)
(The answer, by the way, was about $1.00 a gallon, which seemed astronomical in those days. In today's dollars, it's the equivalent of about $2.75.)
But there were also heroes. Political officer Michael J. Metrinko was one of those:
Michael Metrinko spent the holiday as he had spent all his days since the first week of the takeover, locked in a windowless basement storage room by himself. He had been invited to the Christmas party, but he wanted no part of a propaganda show. When his guards brought him a gift from the ceremony, a plate of turkey and stuffing, cookies, and decorated marshmallows, the food was tempting; Metrinko was hungry, but he was galled by how self-congratulatory his captors seemed, how generous and noble and proudly Islamic. He accepted the plate, and when they left him alone to eat, he sat staring at the food.
Then he knocked on the door and said he needed to use the toilet. When the door opened, Metrinko emerged holding the gift plate before him. He marched down the hall into the bathroom and dumped the contents into the toilet bowl. He made sure the guards saw him do it.
They were furious with him. He had insulted their hospitality and kind intentions. He was crazy! When they shoved him back into his room and slammed the door shut, Metrinko felt a momentary pang at having lost the meal. What a glorious treat he had denied himself! But his remorse was nothing next to the pleasure he took in delivering the insult. It had hit home and wounded them, and that was something that gave a more lasting pleasure than the food ever could have.
It is important that we remember who the heroes were, and who they were not. Mark Bowden has helped us do that.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri Dec 02, 03:23:00 PM:
Thank you for the great job giving us the flavor of this Mark Bowden piece. Sadly it is subcription only. Hope many will link
to you today.
Just more reason for the
stomach to heave when the "Nobel Prize Winner" Carter shows his face.
Hope all will look into this - a true Islamic Christmas. Please
name names of those at Carter's STATE, CIA and any others that had a hand in this - they deserve our reasoned ridicule. May
they hide their faces in shame.
Christmas/ Islam/ Iran/ President Carter:Hope all the FNC shows will book Mark Bowden/ Shame Carter
and his talking heads like
Turner.
By 
Flatlander, at
Sat Dec 03, 10:47:00 AM:
Thanks for this. Yes, by golly, we should remember the real heroes and honor them.
By , at
Mon Dec 18, 05:37:00 PM:
It was an astonishing coincidence that almost 28 years after the little known incident in Tabriz, Mark Bowden's "Guests of the Ayatollah" was released almost simultaneously with my own book, "Razi Crossing". Both of our books recount the incident in Tabriz, Iran in February 1979 where Michael Metrinko courageously rescued 8 foreigners (4 Americans, 2 Austrians, 1 German and an Australian) who had been Jailed In Tabriz prison on car smuggling charges. One of those unnamed "boys" in Bowden's book refers to my own brother, John J. Burchill. My book, "Razi Crossing" tells the amazing story of Michael's courage, cool-headedness and dedication through my brother's eyes. I have since exchanged emails with Mark Bowden regarding that incident and have traded signed copies of our respective work. I am nowhere near the major league writer that Mark is, but I was pleased to have been able to supply the names of the boys and some other details which Metrinko himself simply could not recall. Considering the incredible duress, the lapse of 28 years and the destruction of all records (American and Iranian), it is understandble that Metrinko could not remember their names. On the other hand, Mark's interview with Metrinko revealed something that even my brother was not aware of all these years.
In my book, After John and the others were exonerated at the kangaroo court and returned to the Consulate, John did not recall anything more that day that was notable. However in his book, Bowden recounts a revelation by Metrinko that was never revealed to any of the boys. The passage on page 168 that describes their two guards discussing openly (in Turkish) about shooting the boys and Metrinko later that night was chilling. None of the boys spoke Farsi or Turkish, and the guards mistakenly assumed that Metrinko could only speak Farsi, not Turkish. Again, Metrinko's amazing cool-headedness and quick thinking saved their lives. As soon as I found about this, I called my brother John in Utah. I told him that if he thought he had used up his nine lives in Tabriz, he'd better make that ten. I read the passage to him and he was amazed to learn that he dodged yet another bullet during his ordeal there. He is one amazingly lucky guy.
Although Michael was recognized by the state department for his heroism, the story of the events in Tabriz was, to my knowledge, never picked up by the press. Michael Metrinko has long been a personal hero of our family for saving by brother's life. I am happy to learn that through our respective books, Michael Metrinko is at last receiving the recognition he has long deserved for his courage, and tireless life-long dedication of service to his country. He is truly an American hero for our times. Thank you again, Michael Metrinko, wherever you are.
Tom Burchill
Vancouver, WA.
