1979 U.S. embassy burning in Islamabad
On 21 November 1979, Islamist students and locals, incited by Iranian propaganda, stormed the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan and burned it down in a coordinated attack.[1][2] The students were motivated by a speech by Ayatollah Khomeini, disseminated by Iranian radio propaganda, which falsely claimed that the United States was responsible for the terrorist attack on the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.[2] The embassy attack was planned and led largely by Jamaat-e-Islami-aligned Islamist students at Quaid-i-Azam University, and resulted in several American diplomats temporarily being taken hostage by students who hoped to carry out show trials and executions. Simultaneously, there were also large demonstrations in Karachi, and the American cultural centers in Lahore and Rawalpindi were gutted in similar burnings.[3][4]
| 1979 U.S. embassy burning in Islamabad | |
|---|---|
 The US embassy burning as a Pakistan Army helicopter offloads troops on the roof | |
| Location | Islamabad, Pakistan |
| Date | November 21-22, 1979 12pm November 21 – 6:30am November 22 (UTC+5) |
| Target | Embassy of the United States, Islamabad |
Attack type | Coordinated armed assault, rioting, arson |
| Deaths | 2 Americans 2 local embassy staff 2 protesters |
| Injured | 70+ (estimated) |
| Victims | Embassy staff |
| Perpetrators |
|
No. of participants | 1,500 (UK High Commission estimate) |
| Defenders |
|
| Motive | Incitement by Iran, anti-Americanism |
Four embassy staffers were killed in the attack: a Marine Security Guard, a US Army warrant officer, and two Pakistani locals employed by the embassy. US ambassador Arthur W. Hummel Jr. was outside the embassy at the time of the attack, and escaped unharmed. During the attack, US president Jimmy Carter warned Pakistan's president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq by phone that he was responsible for the Americans' safety, however the embattled new president proved reluctant to use force against the crowd.[3] Two student attackers were killed, while as many as 70 were injured in the attack which lasted into the following morning by the time the Pakistani Army moved to retake control of the premises.[3]
A propaganda coup for Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini later publicly praised the students actions, while Pakistan's president Zia offered a tepid condemnation of the attack as "not in keeping with lofty Islamic traditions."[3]
Prelude to the attack
Islamism started to become popular in Pakistan after Saudi Arabia, which had a state religion of Wahhabism, began sponsoring religious endowments in the country. In 1977 Army Chief of Staff Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew and executed the secular Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a 1977 coup d'état and began implementing Islamic law.[5]
On 20 November 1979, a Saudi Arabian Islamic zealot group led a takeover of the Mosque in Mecca. The group's demands included calling for the cutoff of oil exports to the United States and the expulsion of all foreign civilian and military experts from the Arabian Peninsula.[6] However, there was confusion over who had perpetrated the attack, and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini accused the United States and Israel. This claim was repeated in media reports the morning of 21 November. It was fueled by Voice of America reports that President Jimmy Carter had sent U.S. Navy aircraft carriers to the Indian Ocean in response to the ongoing Iran hostage crisis.[5]
Events
The seizure was mostly planned by students at Quaid-i-Azam University, where the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami had recently won elections for the student body. The protesters shouted anti-American slogans. At first glance the event seemed to be a small protest outside the embassy's walls. Later, buses filled with Jamaat-i-Islami supporters arrived at the main gate. Hundreds of people began climbing over the walls and trying to pull the walls down using ropes. According to the staff at the neighboring British High Commission there were as many as 1,500 demonstrators.[5]
Pakistani police tried to disperse the protesters by firing into them. According to reports, two protesters were killed and 70 injured.[4]
According to an American investigation, the protesters, believing that an American Marine on the roof of the embassy had fired first, opened fire after a bullet fired at the gate's lock by one rioter ricocheted and struck other protesters. Twenty-year-old Marine Corporal Steve Crowley was mortally wounded by a bullet and transported to the embassy's secure communication vault along with the rest of personnel serving in the embassy, including undercover CIA officer Gary Schroen.[7][1] The rioters breached the compound and set fire to the lower floors of the chancery with Molotov cocktails. Although the Marines used tear gas against the protestors, embassy officials denied them permission to use lethal force. Several American civilians were taken hostage in the embassy residences by the rioters, while U.S. Army warrant officer Brian Ellis was killed. The rioters intended to take these hostages back to campus for a sham trial for espionage, but they were rescued by Pakistani police.[5]
Pakistani soldiers rescued nearly 100 people who were trapped in the embassy vault for five hours. The vault had access to the roof. Pakistani forces landed helicopters on the roof, pushed back the protesters and rescued the US embassy staff.[4]
Locked behind steel-reinforced doors, the Americans waited for help to come and rescue them from the smoke-filled building. During the wait the rioters attempted to break in and shot at them through the ventilation shafts.[5] After nightfall a Marine unit was able to sneak out a back exit from the vault as the front door was too damaged to open. Finding the embassy empty they led the rest of the 140 people from the vault out into the courtyard.[1]
Aftermath
After the attack, nonessential embassy personnel were evacuated back to the United States. Ayatollah Khomeini praised the attack, while Zia-ul-Haq condemned it in a televised address, stating "I understand that the anger and grief over this incident were quite natural, but the way in which they were expressed is not in keeping with the lofty Islamic traditions of discipline and forbearance."[5]
In media
The attack is covered in the Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction books Ghost Wars by Steve Coll (in detail) and The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (to a lesser extent).[5]
See also
References
- Barr, Cameron W. (November 27, 2004). "A Day of Terror Recalled". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008.
- "Witness History, Attack on the US Embassy in Islamabad". BBC World Service. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
- "Flames Engulf the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan". TIME. December 3, 1979. Archived from the original on October 22, 2010. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
- Graham Hovey (1979-11-22). "Troops Rescue 100 in Islamabad; U.S. Offices Are Burned in 2 Cities". New York Times.
- Coll, Steve (2005). Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden (2005 ed.). Penguin UK. ISBN 9780141935799.
- Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower. Random House. ISBN 9780307266088.
- Shapira, Ian (September 9, 2022). "A CIA spy pursued bin Laden after 9/11. Now he's being mourned as a legend". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
