In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran [Hardcover]

William J. Daugherty (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1557501696 | ISBN-13: 978-1557501691 | Publication Date: October 15, 2001

Still vivid in many Americans' memories are the 444 days of 1979 when Islamic militants held U.S. diplomatic personnel hostage in Iran. Though their story has been told before, never has it been related from such a perspective. Unique among the hostages, the author was an officer for the Central Intelligence Agency serving at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Once his CIA connection was discovered, Bill Daugherty became a special target of his captors and was subjected to extraordinarily harsh treatment. He managed to survive the ordeal by relying upon his Marine Corps training and combat experience and his remarkable inner reserve of fortitude. Ultimately he was awarded the State Department Medal of Valor and the CIA Exceptional Service Medal.

Drawing on intelligence information not readily available to previous writers, recently declassified materials, interviews with such key government officials as former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and former CIA director and ambassador to Iran Richard Helms, and to his own firsthand knowledge, Daugherty sheds light on this disturbing event, particularly with respect to the decision-making process in the White House. Among his revelations is the involvement of the Soviet Union.

Despite his personal involvement, Daugherty has produced an impressively objective account of the tragedies and triumphs that marked this black time in U.S. history. It is both a harrowing adventure story and a serious look at U.S.-Iran relations. The pivotal event continues to evoke emotions and begs careful analysis for potential lessons learned.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Daugherty was a fledgling CIA agent posted to Iran in September 1979, just in time for the embassy takeover on November 4th of that year. He spent the next 444 days as a prisoner (mostly in solitary confinement) of Ayatollah Khomeini's student radicals. To set the background for the Ayatollah's revolution, the author devotes the first half of his book to analysis of Iranian-U.S. relations during the cold war, when successive U.S. administrations focused on the shah as a bulwark against Soviet expansionism. Believing the shah invulnerable, Daugherty says, American policymakers turned a blind eye to the brewing threat of Islamic fundamentalism. That threat became a reality when the shah abdicated and was ultimately admitted to the U.S. In the ensuing chaos, Daugherty and 52 others were seized, relentlessly interrogated and moved from one prison to another to prevent rescue. Daugherty's account of his captivity (the book's second half) weaves together his personal experiences with developments in Washington, as the Carter administration struggled with an unappetizing array of political and military responses. The author presents a remarkably objective view of events in the U.S. Even when he vehemently disagrees with a step taken by President Carter, Daugherty explains the policies that impelled the president to act as he did. The weakness of the book is the author's admitted lack of specialized knowledge about the language or culture of Iran or the tenets of Islam. Daugherty offers stereotyping more than informed analysis of fundamentalist Islam, and this seems especially unfortunate after the catastrophes of Sept. 10. B&w photos.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...enthralling firsthand account...a concise yet comprehensive discussion of events in American-Iranian relations leading up to the seizure..." -- The Middle East Journal, Summer 2002

"A master storyteller. Perhaps the best, most revealing assessment of one of the major failures of American foreign policy." -- Choice, May 2002

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557501696
• ISBN-13: 978-1557501691
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,337,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A C.I.A. prisoner of the Iranians., March 13, 2005

By 

Kevin M Quigg (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran (Hardcover)

Daugherty was one of three Case Officers of the C.I.A. in the American Embassy in Tehran when it was seized by Iranian militants in 1979. Daugherty describes his captivity at the hands of the Iranians and gives a short history of Iran-USA relations proceeding the crisis. This is a very informative read, and I think very balanced at least in the view of internal American politics. The author is very forthcoming on how he views his Iranian captors. He concludes and I agree that they were ignorant and naive in their beliefs. Tehran Mary is portrayed at the height of her ignorance when she didn't even know that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. She is now a high official in the Iranian government. Daugherty describes his views on his Iranian captors, and it is not a pretty picture. No wonder the U.S. opposes Iran having nuclear weapons.
The author does a great job of describing his introgation, and internment by the Iranian radicals He successfully opposed them for 444 days. I rated this only four stars, because of the slow start of the book. Otherwise a great book.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timely Review for Those Who Remember, June 10, 2002

By 

C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran (Hardcover)

Author William Daugherty provides the reader with a review of the incidents leading up to the 1979 taking of American hostages from the American embassy in Iran. The first nine chapters provide you with background information regarding the shah and relations between the the United States and Iran. The author then provides us with details regarding the taking of the embassy by the Iranians, their unskilled attempts at questioning him, the food they were provided to eat, and their movement from one place to another. Author Daugherty believes the embassy would not have been taken over by the Iranians if the shah had come directly to the U.S. from Iran in 1979 for medican treatment. However, it was a mistake to let the shah "roam the world for ten months" before entering the U.S. that led the embassy to be taken over by the Iranians. Bitterness towards then President Carter was in the minds of the former hostages when released. Carter addressed the former hostages and took a few polite questions until a State Department officer commented that the embassy had provided plenty of advance warning of what would happen if the shah entered the United States. Mr. Carter then looked to the floor, raised his head and smiled, and said he wanted his picture taken with each of them. Thus ended the meeting. The author does, however, praise Mr. Carter for his volunteer work since leaving office. The author also does a great job in providing examples of discussions with the Iranian guards and the futility of dealing with people who have closed minds. The Iranians somehow believed that the removal of President Carter in favor of Ronald Reagan would help their cause. They assumed that anyone who was Carter's opponent would be their friend. This despite the fact they were holding Americans against their will, claiming America was their enemy, and desecrating the American flag. I don't have time to list any additional examples here, but page 163 provides an outstanding example of the logic of their reasoning regarding stopping for a traffic light at 2:00 a.m.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Resist Terror and Survive with Class, October 23, 2001

By 

Richard A. Stratton "The Beak" (Atlantic Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran (Hardcover)

How can I most effectively resist my captors without being self destructive? This seminal question was answered by Stockdale in Hanoi, taught by Hegdahl in Navy Survival School, and practiced by Daugherty in Tehran. The lessons are all the more important today in our campaign against world terrorists. Once a master of resistance, Daugherty had become a master story teller and his book rings true.This is a must read for anyone going into combat and those who support them.

My review is based on 2,221 days experience as a prisoner of the Communist North Vietnamese and 5,475 days as a clinical social worker working mostly with veterans and active duty personnel.