1979 U.S. embassy burning in Islamabad

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1979 U.S. embassy burning in Islamabad
LocationIslamabad, Pakistan
DateNovember 21, 1979
Lunchtime – 6:30AM Nov, 22nd
TargetUnited States embassy
Attack type
Coordinated attack, armed assault, rioting, arson
Deaths2 Americans
2 Pakistani embassy staff
2 protesters
PerpetratorsCitizens of Islamabad

On 21 November 1979, Pakistani people, enraged by a radio report claiming that the United States had bombed the Masjid al-Haram, Islam's holy site at Mecca, stormed the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, and burned it to the ground.[1] The Grand Mosque had suffered a terrorist attack, but the U.S. was not involved. The U.S. diplomats survived by hiding in a reinforced area. Marine Security Guard Corporal Steven Crowley, 20, Army Warrant Officer Bryan Ellis, 30, and two Pakistani staff members were killed in the attack.

Events[]

Islamism started to become popular in Pakistan after Saudi Arabia, which had a state religion of Wahhabism, began sponsoring religious endowments in the country. In 1977 Army Chief of Staff Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew and executed the secular Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a 1977 coup d'etat and began implementing Islamic law.[2]

On 20 November 1979, a Saudi Arabian Islamic zealot group led a takeover of the Mosque in Mecca. The group's demands included calling for the cutoff of oil exports to the United States and the expulsion of all foreign civilian and military experts from the Arabian Peninsula.[3] However, there was confusion over who had perpetrated the attack, and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini accused the United States and Israel. This claim was repeated in media reports the morning of 21 November. It was fueled by Voice of America reports that President Jimmy Carter had sent U.S. Navy aircraft carriers to the Indian Ocean in response to the ongoing Iran hostage crisis.[2]

The seizure was mostly planned by students at Quaid-i-Azam University, where the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami had recently won elections for the student body. The protesters shouted anti-American slogans. At first glance the event seemed to be a small protest outside the embassy's walls. Later, buses filled with Jamaat-i-Islami supporters arrived at the main gate. Hundreds of people began climbing over the walls and trying to pull the walls down using ropes. According to the staff at the neighboring British Embassy there were as many as 1,500 demonstrators.[2]

According to an American investigation, the protesters, believing that an American Marine on the roof of the embassy had fired first, opened fire after a bullet fired at the gate's lock by one rioter ricocheted and struck other protesters. Twenty-year-old Marine Steve 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.[1] The rioters breached the compound and set fire to the lower floors of the chancery with Molotov cocktails. Although the marines used tear gas against the protestors, embassy officials denied them permission to use lethal force. Several American civilians were taken hostage in the embassy residences by rioters intending to take them back to campus for a sham trial for espionage, but they were rescued by Pakistani police.[2]

Although the U.S. State Department credited Pakistan with resolving the crisis, there was very little Pakistani security response. The Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee claimed to have been unavailable because they were accompanying Zia-ul-Haq on a bicycle tour of Rawalpindi. Later, the Pakistan Army surveilled the damage by helicopter, and according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency decided to let the embassy burn down and not confront the rioters.[2]

Locked behind steel-reinforced doors the Americans waited for help to come and rescue them from the smoke-filled building. During the wait the rioters attempted to break in and shot at them through the ventilation shafts.[2] After nightfall a Marine unit was able to sneak out a back exit from the vault as the front door was too damaged to open. Finding the embassy empty they led the rest of the 140 people from the vault out into the courtyard.[1]

After the attack, nonessential embassy personnel were evacuated back to the United States. Ayatollah Khomeini praised the attack, while Zia-ul-Haq condemned it in a televised address, stating "I understand that the anger and grief over this incident were quite natural, but the way in which they were expressed is not in keeping with the lofty Islamic traditions of discipline and forbearance."[2]

In media[]

A detailed narrative of this event is provided in the book Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll.[2]

See also[]

Bibliography[]

Notes
  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Barr 2004, p. A20
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Coll 2005
  3. ^ Wright 2006, p. 92
References
  • Barr, Cameron W. (November 27, 2004). "A Day of Terror Recalled". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  • Coll, Steve (2005). Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden (2005 ed.). Penguin UK. ISBN 9780141935799. - Total pages: 736
  • Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower (2006 ed.). Random House LLC. ISBN 9780307266088. - Total pages: 469

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