- 1979 U.S. Embassy Burning in Islamabad
In
1979 ,Pakistani students , enraged by aradio report claiming that theUnited States had bombed theMasjid al-Haram ,Islam 's holy site atMecca , stormed the U.S. embassy inIslamabad , and burned it to the ground. Thediplomats survived by hiding in a reinforced area, though Marine Security GuardSteve Crowley and another American were killed in the attack.On
20 November 1979 , aSaudi Arabian Islamic zealot group had led a takeover of the Mosque at Mecca. Iran'sAyatollah Khomeini immediately claimed that Americans were behind the attack on Islam's holiest place. This claim was repeated in media reports the morning of21 November .The event started as a small, peaceful protest against U.S. policies in
Cambodia , as well as suspected U.S. involvement surrounding the military coup d'état ofZulfikar Bhutto in1977 . The protesters shouted anti-American slogans. Although, at first glance it seemed to be a small protest outside the embassy’s walls, buses later started pulling up filled with far-rightJamaat-i-Islami supporters in front of the main gates. Hundreds of people began climbing over the walls and trying to pull them down using ropes. According to an American investigation, after abullet was fired at the gate’s lock by one rioter ricocheted and struck protesters, the protestors opened fire believing that an American marine on the roof of the embassy had fired first. Who actually fired first cannot be confirmed one way or another. Twenty-year-old Marine Stephen Crowley was struck by a bullet and transported to the embassy’s secure communication vault along with the rest of personnel serving in the embassy. Locked behind steel-reinforced doors the Americans waited for help to come and rescue them from a smoke-filled building.Two days later,
The New York Times published an article titled “Troops Rescue 100 in Islamabad; U.S. Offices Are Burned in 2 Cities”. The article mentionsJody Powell , the White House press secretary at that time who said that the administration appreciates action taken by the Pakistani forces in bringing about the dramatic escape of the 100 people besieged for five hours in the embassy chancery.In that action: “The Government troops who finally ended the siege had to land on the roof by
helicopter , rout the attackers and then assist the embassy personnel onto the roof, down to a lower level of the building and finally to the ground”ee also
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1983 Beirut barracks bombing
*Anti-Americanism
*US-Pakistan relations
*Steve Crowley
*Grand Mosque Seizure External links
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15332-2004Nov26.html 1979 Embassy Siege In Islamabad Still Haunts Survivors]
* [http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0603/p07s01-wosc.html The US Embassy in Pakistan: fortress against terror threats]
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