The Shah's visit to the US did not cause the subsequent events and you would not be justified in "any" response. You over-simplify the events, both in Iran and the world, that lead us to the Iranian government that we see today. How is it oversimplified? The Shah's visit was part of a sequence of events that led to the hostage crisis. The Shah fled Iran during the revolution in 1979, and eventually came to the U.S. seeing medical treatment for lymphoma. Islamic student militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, took 66 hostages, and demanded that we extradite the Shah back to Iran. There are documented reports that some hostages were physically beaten.
The role of a government in a free society is protection of citizens - so we would have been completely justified in a full-scale attack. The sooner the United States openly asserts a moral right to crush such thugs and bullies who seek to destroy us, the better off we'll be.
Kevin
