Operation Eagle Claw: What went wrong? (Part 1 of 2)

After 66 people in Tehran were taken hostage in 1979, the US government organized and dispatched a rescue mission code-named "Operation Eagle Claw" to rescue them.

The events that followed were a catastrophe that shocked the world. US servicemen were killed, the mission was scrubbed, nobody was rescued, and the hostages were effectively left for dead.

Now, in this presentation, you can look the scenes and see what went wrong --- and WHY.

Part 1 explains the background of the crisis, the planning process for the mission, and the preparations for the doomed raid. Part 2 will show you how everything went wrong.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Operation
• Eagle
• Claw
• Desert
• One
• Iran
• Hostage
• Crisis
• Rescue
• Disaster
• Debacle
• Boondoggle
• Failure
• Scandal
• Jimmy
• Carter
• US
• Marine
• Corps
• USMC
• Army
• Delta
• Force
• USAF

[JineshJK]

First operation of Delta Force...

[BlacktailDefense]

@JineshJK Not a very auspicious beginning, was it?

You can't place all the blame on them, though --- just about every unit that could possibly get involved basically lobbied their way into the operation.

[zouhairuk]

I just love the name they give to the missions Operation Eagle Claw, Operation Enduring freedom bla bla bla

[BlacktailDefense]

@zouhairuk That's because the mission naming system has become politicized. The original randomly-generated name was "Operation Rice Bowl", but some pompous, idiot (Br)asshat decided the mission needed a more "patriotic" name.

[engliscwarrior]

should have sent the sas

[BlacktailDefense]

@engliscwarrior Perhaps so, as the only possible chance of success would be a small, inconspicuous, fast-moving team. Tehran was simply too heavily-guarded to just fly right in using helicopters, and land right in front of the hostages.

[Rohrkrepierer88]

So they managed to drive the operation into the wall without even seen an enemy soldier . But hey they still managed to blow up a fuel tanker , okay if that was their idea of stealth then is better that they never been closer to the prison .

[JineshJK]

@BlacktailDefense No I didnt put blame on them, just said..

[lanchurch]

well done Iran!

[msk1911]

Didn't Delta and the 75th Rangers spearhead the rescue? I guess Wiki is wrong...Humm.