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Bowden skillfully evokes the era and the ordeal, putting a human face on the yellow ribbons. And he describes in detail President Carter's vacillations, the failed rescue attempts, and the charlatans and apologists who acted as private intermediaries to seek the hostages' release (and their own photo ops).  -- Review: Tehran Rising (May 7).

Author Mark Bowden was online Tuesday, May 2, at 2 ET to field questions and comments about his new book, "Guests of the Ayatollah," which examines the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-81.

Mark Bowden is a journalist and the author of several books, including "Black Hawk Down" and "Killing Pablo. " He is a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly.

Join Book World Live each Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET for a discussion based on a story or review in each Sunday's Book World section.

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Philadelphia, Pa.: I hate to say this, but there were rumors about the unsucessful attempt to rescue the hostages around the University of Pennsylvania campus the day before it happened as some involved told family members which included students. That always bothered me, as there were Iranians on campus. I have no knowledge that anyone could have purposedly or even inadvertenly tipped off anything. Yet, it tells me that the mission was not kept as secret as it should have. As I guess reporters learn there are few secrets in Washington, is this a problem within the military as well?

Mark Bowden: The one thing the mission accomplished was to achieve complete surprise. The Iranians didn't even know it had happened, despite the fireworks in the desert, until Jimmy Carter announced the mission's failure in the White House.

MB

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San Diego, Calif: Mr. Bowden,Sorry, no question just a statement. I would like to thank you for you providing to the public well written and factual accounts of the Somalia , Pablo, and Desert One missions. Your ability to represent these complicated operations in an un-biased, respectful, and introspective maner is rare. The type of missions you have written about, have many moving parts and ramifications . You have done the country a great service by putting it all out there and allowing the public to anaylze these actions for themselves. As a former active duty member stationed at Dam Neck, Va, I thank you.

Sincerely,Mike

Mark Bowden: Thank you, for your service and your compliment.

MB

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Harrisburg, Pa.: What are your thoughts on the rescue mission? In retrospect, it is easy to pinpoint the failure as they should have sent one more helicopter. Yet, at the time, the decision was to keep the number of helicopters at a minimum to avoid detection. Without having known the bad result in advance, do you think that was a wise gamble, or was it being too cautious?

Mark Bowden: As I said earlier, I do think the mission was so complicated it had only a very small chance of success. I think all of the decisions about the force were carefully weighed to increase that small chance ... to no avail.

MB

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West Orange, NJ: Did Iran's current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, lead or collaborate with the hostage takers in 1979? Did any others who are now prominent in Iran's government?

How would Iranian nukes put the US are more risk than Chinese, Russian, or Pakistani weapons? Is is worth a war to stop them? Would a war stop them?

Is Iraq in 2006 better or worse than Somalia in 1991? Did US withdrawal from Somalia inspire al Qaeda? Would US witdrawal from Iraq do the same?

Would a US intervention in Darfur do any good or be another quagmire?

Did Porter Goss strenghen or castrate the CIA's Iranian intelligence capability?

Have US actions in the Mideast since 9/11 helped or harmed US security?

Mark Bowden: Yes, as I explain in the book, Ahmadinejad was one of the five students who made up the group "Strengthen the Unity," which came up with the idea to seize an embassy. He originally preferred taking the Soviet embassy, but was voted down, and has said that he supported the US embassy takeover after the Imam approved it -- which happened the day of the takeover. Some of the former hostages remember him. A number of the key hostage takers are now prominent Iranian government figures, including Habibullah Bitaraf, the energy minister, and Hossein Sheik al-Eslam, the chief hostage interrogator, who is now a member of the Majlis (or parliament). Nilufar (Massoumeh) Ebtekar is a vice preisdent; she was the hostage-takers spokesperson and took part in numerous interrogations as a translator.

I would say that Iran poses a bigger threat because it is a government that remains outspokenly hostile to the United States, has a president who has advocated the destruction of Israel, and that has ties with Islamist terrorist organizations, like Hezbollah. It is a country government by Islamist extremists. Kim Jung Il is an isolated figure whose philosophies are not about to inspire a global anti-American, anti-western movement, China is a major and often responsible world power with direct diplomatic ties to the US, and Pakistan, under its present leadership, is an ally. Nuclear weapons in all of these countries is worrisome, but Iran clearly is the most threatening.

Iraq, while deeply troubled, is much better off than Somalia in 1991, where an estimated million people starved to death, and nearly than many were on the way to that fate. Al Qaeda was already going strong when the US withdrew from Somalia, although I think our retreat heartened them and presented them with an opportunity. If the US were to withdraw from Iraq noqw, my guess is that the country would desolve into civil war, and become a breeding ground for more jihadism.

As for Darfur, I don't know, but the world needs to act if it is serious about preventing genocide. I don't know much about Goss, and to your last question I think the verdict is still out. Overall, I think the pursuit of Islamiost terrorists since 2001 has diminished their capabilities worldwide.

MB

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Phoenix, Ariz: Just a comment...Black Hawk Downis my favorite movie. It was important that you captured this event in the immediate aftermath, rather than 20 years later when there is a tendency toward revisionism. It was such an important story to tell. I sent a Christmas care package to a Marine Corps unit stationed in Iraq, and I included copies of Black Hawk Down (it's on their reading list). My political beliefs are slightly left of center, so you've reached not just the hard-core right wing Republicans. I'll pick up the new book as well. I was a 14-year-old high school student when the hostages were taken in November 1979, and it was my first realization that the world was much bigger than my own back yard.

Mark Bowden: Thank you.

MB

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Detroit, Mich: Mr. Bowden,

Given your familiarity with and expertise in military operations, how would you assess the plan to rescue the hostages? Might it have succeeded but for the sand storm and accident at Desert One? Thanks and keep up the great work.

Mark Bowden: I am hardly an expert on anything military, but to my untrained eye I would have to say that the mission was so complicated, and depended on so many things going right, that it is doubtful it would have succeeded. I suspect there would have been a great deal of bloodshed. It was not, however, a suicide mission. It had a chance.

MB

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Reston, Va: Mr. Bowden: What was your opinion of the movie "Black Hawk Down"?

Mark Bowden: I thought Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer did a magnificent job of adapting the book to film, but since I helped with the adaptation I am not an entirely objective critic. The public and the Academy seemed to have liked it a lot!

MB

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Herndon, Va: Mr. Bowden: I haven't read your latest book, but if it's half as good as "Black Hawk Down," I know it will be excellent! I'm in the "foreign service community" and know a few of the hostages. To my inexpert eye they seem to have totally recovered. Did you discover any long-range after effects?

Mark Bowden: Thanks! Most of the hostages have gotten on with their lives, but some remain haunted by their experience. A few still did not want to talk about it with me. Most remain very interested in what is going on in Iran today, and some still would like to recover damages for their ordeal.

MB

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Chantilly, Va: Thank you for writing this book. It's a good time to finally come to terms with what happened.

Sincerely,A brother of one of the hostages.

Mark Bowden: You're welcome.

MB

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Raleigh, NC: I enjoy your work in The Atlantic and loved "Cops on the Take" from Road Work. I haven't read your new book, but I plan to. From what I've read (even in some of your work), it seems like there is a large portion of the population in Iran that embraces American culture and has a much different take on the United States than those in power. Is this something that has evolved in the last decade or so, after the Iran/Iraq war? Or was this a feeling that existed (to some degree) among the general populace even in the years immediately following the revolution?

Thank you.

Mark Bowden: Thanks. There have long been warm feelings for the United States among people in Iran. Even at its height in 1979, there were those who preferred maintaining close ties with America. I think most Iranians today favor renewed ties with the US and real democracy in their country.

MB

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Virginia: Does your book update whatever happened to the 52 hostages now?

Mark Bowden: Yes! In the Epilogue.

MB

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Potomac, Md: Mark-

I was too young at the time to understand the geopolitical issues surrounding the seizure of our embassy and what seems to be our pusillanimous response to it.

I noted in your op-ed last week that the Carter Administration deserves a little more slack in the way it dealt with the crisis.

Was going to war against Iran a seriously considered option, to your knowledge, and what were the reasons not to do it?

And with almost three decades of hindsight, would we make a different choice were some something similar to happen in the present day?

Mark Bowden: Good questions. I think Carter's approach was to try not to make the hostage-taking erupt into something bigger than it was. At the outset, there was hope that responsible parties in Iran would step in and right the matter themselves -- these were, after all, just a group of Islamist college students. We were in the Cold War at the time, and there was concern that going to war against Iran might bright the Soviets in on their side, which could have led to a wide regional conflict and the terrible potential of a nuclear exchange.

Today, the president would have a much wider variety of military options than Carter had in 1979, and without the shadow of the Cold War, we could afford to respond more aggressively if that seemed warranted. Carter was also admirably concerned with getting the hostages home safely.

MB

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Burlington, Vt: I am old fashioned enough to believe that an attack on one's foreign embassy is a literal attack one's nation. Have you done the though experiment to ask how things would have turned out had the United States threatened Iran with major military action if the hostages were not returned unharmed? How might it have affected the calculations of terrorist organizations subsequently?

Mark Bowden: I have, and given the revolutionary fervor in Iran at the time, not to mention the tendency to celebrate martyrdom, I suspect they would have called our bluff, and many, many more people who have enjoyed a quarter century of life would have been dead long ago -- including the hostages.

MB

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Reading, Mass: Was Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a participant in the Iran hostage crisis?

Mark Bowden: Yes. See above.

MB

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Washington, DC: In Air Force magazine, the USAF helicopter pilot, Kyle, blamed the USMC pilots. And the Army pilots blame both services. Finally JSOC and the 16th SOAR were set up. We're pretty much a reactive country, than pro-active.

Mark Bowden: The level of bitterness persists even after all these years, and I suppose we should not be surprised..

MB

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Maryland: Hello. You wrote the Imam approved it but I thought the Ayatollah opposed the embassy takeover?

Mark Bowden: The Imam approved the takeover after the fact. I refer you to the first chapter of my book!

MB

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Virginia: Will your new book become a movie? You can play one of the hostages! And what is your next book project?

Mark Bowden: The movie right to "GA" were purchased by Scott Rudin, so it has a better chance than many books of becoming a movie. We'll see. I think I'll stay behind the cameras.

MB

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Washington, DC: Did you interview any Iranians in Iran? What about the Shad's son in VA?

Mark Bowden: I interviewed many Iranians on my trips to that country. You will see their points of view reflected throughout the book.

MB

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Washington, DC: I grew up in Bethesda and will always remember Penny Laingen's strong will and efforts on the issue. I lost touch with her son 25 years ago, but his mom was a really interesting individual.

Mark Bowden: She was, and so she remains. Penne's efforts went far beyond those I describe in "GA."

MB

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Vancouver BC: Regarding Black Hawk Down...

WHY would you write a book that makes a hero out of a sodomite pedophile rapist?

Mark Bowden: If you are referring to Stebbins, the actions described in the book took place years before what you are talking about, and were true.

MB

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Maryland: I read Charlie Beckwith's book the Delta Force and he wrote that we as Americans, have little understanding of Iran despite being there for a long time. Do you think we Americans understand foreign relations?

Mark Bowden: We need to get better at it. Our focus in the Cold War was exceedingly narrow, and smaller countries' interests and needs were considered important insofar as they effected the larger conflict. That's no longer the case.

MB

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Virginia: Why the title Guests of the Ayatollah?

Mark Bowden: Because, as the book makes clear, the Iranian captors insisted that their hostages were not hostages, but "guests." It highlights two very different ways of seeing the same thing.

MB

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Virginia: How did you visit Iran? I thought U.S. citzens cannot visit. And did you interview that crazz female hostage taker?

Mark Bowden: Journalists have had some success getting visas to report in Iran for limited periods. After waiting for many months to obtain a ten-day visa through ordinary channels (Iran's consulate at the UN in New York), I eventually gave up and paid a bribe. All three of our trips to Iran were limited by the authorirites to ten days. I did interview Ebtekar. If you catch the documentary version of the story, which will air on the Discovery-Times channel in early June, you will see some of that interview. She is very annoying.

MB

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Reston, Va: Mark,

You've done some fantastic work in bringing what our soldiers and airmen experience in the field to the rest of us. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading this as well (I've gone through the excerpt in the Atlantic Monthly). Any thoughts as to what your next work may be?

Mark Bowden: Lots of ideas, but I haven't started working on anything yet. Keep your eyes on The Atlantic. Whatever I do will show up there first. At the moment I am writing a screenplay for Imagine Entertainment about "Rendition."

MB

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Virginia: Were the hostages POW? Is there a parelled butween Guanmatolo, Cuba and the Iranian hostages?

Mark Bowden: Not really, because we were not at war with Iran. They were diplomats, and there was no justification for their being held. Also, the "Students Following the Imam's Line" were private citizens, not the government of Iran, so the episode probably better fits the definition of a kidnapping.

MB

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Washington, DC: Will you have the book translated in Farsi and post it on your web site for all Iranians to read? How about a few complimentary copies to like Screaming Mary compliments of the people of the USA?

Mark Bowden: So far we have not had any feelers from Iranian publishers, either in the States or Iran. But I would be delighted. Ebtekar can read it in English. Her English is as fluent as mine.

MB

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Reston, Va: Mark,

During your research for this project, what struck you as most compelling or interesting?

Mark Bowden: I guess learning more about Iran. One of the reasons I choose these stories set in foreign lands is that I relish the opportunity to travel and learn. I gained a much better appreciation of why Iranians, particularly in 1979, were so angry with the United States.

MB

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Washington, D.C.: As an American of Iranian descent who was born several years after the hostage crisis, I often wonder what would have happened in US-Iran relations if the hostage crisis had never occurred. Do you think the ayatollahs would have been out of power long ago? Or were the two things not connected?

I haven't read your book yet, but I hope to soon!

Mark Bowden: Who knows? As I tried to make clear in the book, the embassy takeover was the event that leveraged the mullahs fully into power. Without it, it was entirely possible that a more moderate, secular government would have formed, and given that the US was eager to resume ties, good relations might have resumed immediately.

MB

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washingtonpost.com: Thanks to Mark Bowden and to all who participated.

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