The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO COMMEMORATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE OF THE IRAN HOSTAGES” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S463 on Jan. 26, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO COMMEMORATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE OF THE IRAN
HOSTAGES
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I wish to commemorate in the Record the anniversary of the release of the Iran hostages on this date in 1981.
Soon the Senate will be consumed by a great debate regarding the proper strategic approach our Nation must take to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapons capability. Tomorrow, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hear testimony from both State Department and the U.S. Treasury about the current state of play in negotiations with Iran. Next week, the Senate Banking Committee is meeting to consider perspectives on the strategic necessity of Iran sanctions that will further the debate. I, for one, welcome that important discussion, although I recognize that some of my colleagues hold views that are different from my own on how best to contain Iran.
There is, however, yet another important policy matter related to Iran that not only deserves but also demands the unified, bipartisan support of every Senator. Thirty-four years ago today, January 20, 1981, 52 of our fellow American citizens returned home after a harrowing 444-day ordeal of being illegally held hostage in Iran. We sent these diplomats, Foreign Service personnel, along with officers and enlisted members of our Armed Forces, to Iran in service to our Nation as they were seeking only to strengthen ties between our two countries. There was even an American businessman involved. Nevertheless, they all paid dearly for this service by being forced to endure humiliating treatment, brutal interrogations, mental and physical torture, and even mock firing squad executions while their families suffered endless waiting and genuine fear of their loved ones' imminent demise.
Although their return was a joyous occasion for our entire Nation and we celebrated as one people honoring our heroes, those 444 days took a toll not only on the hostages but also on their family members--a toll that continues for many to this day. Unfortunately, we failed to recognize both the long-term impact their incarceration experience and ill treatment would have on many of them and the support they would need. In many instances, the results have been tragic. Among the former hostages and their families, there have been suicides, advanced PTSD-
type depression, divorces, alcoholism, and drug dependency. Unfortunately, Phil Ward, a communications officer from Virginia who committed suicide in the fall of 2012, was one who never fully recovered from the cruelty of those events.
We must help to ease this burden and provide these brave Americans with the same measure of justice and healing our courts have already awarded to other hostage victims and their families. While the Algiers Accords, the document which secured the release, bars the former hostages and their families from legal action against Iran for the brutality they endured, to this day they remain not only the first victims of modern hostage-taking but the only Americans barred from seeking justice from Iran. The former hostages and their families have already waited more than three decades to experience the full support of the government they so heroically served and to see some accountability by their captors. Therefore, I will soon introduce legislation to compensate the hostages and their families by assessing penalties on those who continue to do business with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions policy. This legislation, however, represents but one solution to an issue that is three decades overdue. Another or perhaps an additional option would be to strongly recommend that as a condition of the ongoing nuclear negotiations, such compensation come directly from ``frozen'' assets that for more than a year now have been released to Iran at the rate of $700 million a month.
Accordingly, I look forward to righting this injustice by working with any or all of my colleagues as we stand united in support of the former hostages and their families.
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