Iran's New Prez Downplays Past

No one denies that Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was an important student leader (subscription required) during the takeover of the US embassy what is interesting is that he is so quiet about his involvement. Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down, Killing Pablo) currently writing a book on the '79 embassy takeover in Tehran thinks he knows why:

Ahmadinejad's prompt disavowal was a tacit acknowledgment that today the episode comes with distinct political liabilities, both foreign and domestic. Why would an association with the embassy takeover hurt Ahmadinejad? Because the hostage crisis resulted in such profound and lasting misfortune in Iran. Many Iranians (including Asgharzadeh) now regard it as an enormous blunder. Iranian conspiracy theorists on both the left and the right take solace in the preposterous notion that the whole thing was really planned by the CIA, which would make the students at best dupes, and at worst hirelings, of the Great Satan. In the eyes of the world, the takeover has damaged Iran's standing. It was a crime against international diplomacy, an age-old system that exists to resolve problems between nations peacefully. As Iran's new president, Ahmadinejad will be the most visible symbol of Iran in the world.