Bedford resident recalls 1979 experience as Iran hostage

Don Sharer has reason to hold a grudge against Iran. \nAs one of the 52 Americans taken hostage in 1979 at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Sharer, who now lives in Bedford, was subject to torture and psychological abuse. He described a typical mock execution. \n"They stick a gun in your ear," he said. "They all wore these plastic signs with Khomeini. One guy stuck the gun in my ear, another guy was over here rattling the sign of Khomeini." \nAfter the hostage-takers threatened his life, Sharer said "they took the gun away, took my blindfold off, and then asked me if I wanted to have some lunch." \nSharer was one of five former hostages who claimed last week that the new president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of the hostage-takers. \nOn Nov. 4, 1979, Sharer was in his office in the U.S. Embassy writing a letter to Washington for permission to be sent back to the U.S. He was sent to Tehran to check the status of 76 F-14s the U.S. government had given to the Shah. After the Shah was overthrown, Sharer was sent to investigate the F-14s. \n"I went over there to talk to the Iranian Air Force, find out what they wanted to do with them," he said. "They talked about all the other airplanes they had, what they wanted spare parts for, tires, and all that, but they wouldn't say a word about the F-14s."\nSharer said he expected to be back in the U.S. in two weeks.\n"(Washington) had told me that if I wasn't doing any good, I felt I should come home, just come on home," he said. "So I was writing a letter to let them know I was coming home. And that's when the Iranians came over the wall."\nSharer said the Americans in the embassy escaped to a secure floor where they were able to contact Washington and await \ninstructions. \n"After six hours, Washington told us, 'Give up your weapons and walk out with your head held high,'" he said. "I thought that was kind of stupid."\nMarines had dropped tear gas grenades on the hostage-takers as they were storming the compound. \n"So when they came up and we opened the door, they'd taken rags and soaked them in the teargas residue and that was what they blindfolded us with," he said.\nSharer recounted the morning after capture. \n"We'd get up, they'd feed us some bread and some goat cheese," he said. "They took us into the big formal dining room (in the embassy). (They) tied us up in chairs, tied our arms to the arms and our legs to the legs, and then proceeded to go though a mock execution three different times." \nSharer said he and the other four accusers did not plan to come forward with their identification of the president as a hostage-taker. \n"We didn't talk about anything, we just said, 'I know that guy,'" he said. "One of the other guys said, 'He was my interrogator,' another guy said 'he was the one that threatened to kidnap my son and send the body parts back to my wife.'"\nDina Spechler, professor of political science at IU, agrees that this claim will have no effect on the U.S.' already shaky ties with Iran. \n"Whether or not Ahmadinejad was involved in the hostage takeover of the U.S. embassy, he is already regarded by the U.S. as a conservative who is militantly anti-American," she said. "The claims of Capt. Sharer and some of his colleagues only reinforce an image of the president-elect that the Bush administration already holds."\nDaniel Beben, a graduate student in Central Eurasian Studies at IU, has been studying the Iranian political process for at least two years. \nBeben said that the president represents only a small authority in the overall Iranian political structure. Candidates for presidency are chosen by the Guardian Council, "a 12-man body comprised of six clerics and six laymen who are appointed by the Iranian \nparliament."\nBeben said that whether or not Ahmadinejad was one of the hostage-takers will not have a significant effect on Iranian policy. \n"The position of president in Iran actually presents very little real power," he said. "The president is able to send legislation to the parliament and holds a number of other powers within the state bureaucracy, but his authority is at all times subject to the Guardian Council and the Supreme Leader, who has the right to reverse or veto any decision made by the president or the parliament."\nBeben explained that the students who were formerly pro-Khomeini in the 1980s have become disenfranchised with the turn politics have taken in Iran. Any many of them would hold a view similar to that of pro-democracy westerners. \n"Some of the former hostage-takers who participated in the incident have, in recent years, emerged as some of the sharpest critics of the Iranian regime, and have become some of the loudest voices calling for reform and greater democracy in Iran," he said. "Some of these individuals, the same ones who once held American diplomats as hostages, are now calling for Iran to re-establish ties with the U.S."\nSharer was skeptical of any political effects of his claims.\n"You watch, it will blow over next week," he said of the news of his claim. "It'll be all gone"