SECOND OPINION Toward a New Iran Policy: Lessons From the Revolution NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition

• Published in: Newsday
• Main Author: By Henry Precht. Henry Precht, a retired Foreign
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 20.02.1989
• Edition: Combined editions
• Subjects: Tracy, Laurie; Vance, Cyrus; Iran

SNOW OVERWHELMED Washington the weekend the Ayatollah Khomeini's forces overthrew the shah's government in Tehran. Ten years ago this month, I walked and hitchhiked from Bethesda, Md., to the State Department to relieve a junior officer, Laurie Tracy, who had been the only person on duty for the Iran Task Force for more than 24 hours. Everyone, from Secretary of State Cyrus Vance through Tracy's relief, was snowbound. For hours Tracy had juggled calls - Vance on one line, Tehran on another, the rest of the world on others. By the time she went home, Islamic government had come to Iran. Junior officer Tracy didn't lose Iran. Weeks or months earlier the United States had, through ineptitude, lost its ability to exercise positive influence there. After that the United States could still hurt itself or make life worse for others, but a creative, constructive role would have to wait years for a rebuilt relationship of trust and respect. The U.S. failure to act quickly with a clear objective meant an inability to act usefully for a long, long time. Finally, be guided by American, not Iranian, principles. Iran owes compensation for abuse of the hostages of 1979-80. But Iranian conduct is not our standard. We should pay generous compensation to the families of victims of the Iran Air flight we shot down last summer - without setting conditions and, especially, without hoping for Iranian good will - because it is right to do so.