Remembering Iran

My introduction to Iran came in 1979 when I had just turned 12. Although I was mostly uninterested in anything not named Mike Leahy, I was cognizant (from a 12 year old's perspective) of the Iran Hostage Crisis. I remember the nightly TV news coverage and flipping past the entry in the local newspaper (on my way to the funnies) that noted the number of days the hostages had been held. I remember the tragic, failed rescue attempt in April of 1980 that brought my pre-teen patriotic euphoria down from its February U.S. Olympic hockey victory high.

I also remember being puzzled that anyone who was "evil" enough to capture and keep 66 hostages would be "good" enough to release the women and the sickly, and then "good" enough to let the rest go, relatively unharmed, after 444 days. "Evil" should have held them all indiscriminately, abused them all, killed them all. It was the first time that my child brain struggled to integrate concepts beyond good and evil. It was probably the first time I thought in terms of relativity... to question the "why".

Modern Iran fell off my radar for many years after except for a peripheral awareness of the long Iran-Iraq War and its membership in OPEC. It resurfaced in my consciousness after its induction into the now infamous Axis of Evil club but it wasn't until recently that I thought to go back and educate myself beyond my primitive knowledge of the country.

As is usually the case, what I didn't know is so much more interesting than what I thought I knew. The hostage crisis wiki above did a nice job of providing the context that escaped my understanding in 1981. I also didn't know this or this. I've also recently read this Chatham House Report, which I'll comment on more extensively later.

Interested in other more in-depth sources of Iran info -- feel free to recommend your favorites.