It’s Time to Take the Gloves Off!

November 4, 1979 and October 3, 1993.

For me and millions of Americans, those dates will be forever linked together. Despite the passage of 33 and 19 years, respectively, the very thought of those two tragic dates still makes me burn with anger.

The first date marks the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis. For those too young to remember, a group of Islamic students and militants took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. For the next 444 days, 52 Americans were held hostage by their captors in full view of the outside world.

President Jimmy Carter’s response was to decry the takeover, calling the hostages “victims of terrorism and anarchy.” He added that “the United States will not yield to blackmail.”

President Carter was right; the U.S. didn’t yield.

However, we did little else.

A rescue attempt was finally launched on April 24, 1980. Unfortunately, it failed and eight American servicemen were killed during the operation.

The Algiers Accord was eventually signed on January 19, 1981 and, thankfully, the hostages were released just minutes after President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office the following day.

The second tragic date was later immortalized by the movie Black Hawk Down. It was the day that helicopter Super Six Four was shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia. Pilot Mike Durant and crew members Bill Cleveland, Tommy Field and Ray Frank all survived the crash, but were badly injured.

Two Delta Force snipers, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, volunteered to rescue their fallen comrades. All six men fought bravely, but after running out of ammunition they were swarmed by a marauding mob. Durant, the lone survivor, was held prisoner for 11 days and used for propaganda purposes.

But the worst was yet to come.

Rampaging villagers stripped the dead American bodies, chopped several of them into parts to be brandished as trophies, and dragged three of the corpses through the streets of Mogadishu.

And what was President Bill Clinton’s response to the killing of five marines and the desecrating of their dead bodies? He immediately abandoned the pursuit of warlord Mohammed Aideed – a mission sanctioned and supported by the United Nations – and ordered all U.S. troops to withdraw from Somalia by March 31, 1994.

The reason I raise these two tragic episodes is clear. With the recent attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya – and the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three American servicemen – the world waits to see how America will respond.

With former president Bill Clinton by his side, President Barack Obama spoke from the White House Rose Garden, calling the attack in Libya “outrageous and shocking” and vowing to bring those responsible to justice.

I trust that President Obama will be true to his word, because American inaction always leads to the loss of additional American lives by emboldening our enemies.

Just ask the late Osama bin Laden, who in 1996 cited the Mogadishu incident as proof that the U.S. was unable to stomach casualties. “When one American was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu, you left; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear.”

In other words, had the U.S. response in Mogadishu been swift and severe – attacking instead of retreating – the tragedies of 9/11 may never have taken place.

Ask yourself when was the last time you saw a Russian soldier taken hostage or a Chinese embassy taken over by gangs of rioters? When the world is convinced that a country will exercise its military might in defense of its citizens, mobs usually think twice.

And so, while my anger still burns, I pray that America’s response to the atrocities in Libya and elsewhere will be strong and our message will be clear. The world must know that if American citizens are harmed or killed on foreign soil, there will be serious and immediate ramifications.

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