Preview

Operation Eagle Claw

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
656 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Operation Eagle Claw
Monika Bochert History 151.003 Operation Eagle Claw mbochert@rams.colostate.edu

What was supposed to go down in history as the heroic rescue of 52 hostages in during the Iranian Hostage Crisis is now labeled as one of America’s greatest military blunders. The failed rescue mission, known as Operation Eagle Claw, was devised as the result of a climactic point of tension in Iran-US relations. Since reading All the Shah’s Men, I have gained an interest in Iranian history and our diplomatic relations with them. Researching Operation Eagle Claw has given me another taste of what this rich history has to offer. In the late 1970s, Iran was experiencing severe domestic discontent. According to http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/apjinternational/apj-s/2006/3tri=06/kampseng.html, when the Shah lost favor with his people he fled to America and was replaced with a theocracy under the leadership of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Iranian people demanded that the Shah return but when he remained abroad, a group of militant students seized the American embassy and held captive several American diplomatic personnel. As much as President Jimmy Carter wanted to diplomatically solve the problem, he was forced to go in militarily. As detailed in the website http://www.mindef.gov.sg/safti/pointer/back/journals/ 2002/ Vol28_2/5.htm, the plan was to send in eight Sea Stallion helicopters from the aircraft carrier Nimitz and six other transport aircrafts to Desert One, a secret Iranian landing strip where they would be refueled. Once the helicopters were ready to fly, they would take counterterrorist Delta Force troopers to Desert Two, a remote mountain hideaway near Tehran. After waiting a full day, the troopers would then use all necessary force to free the hostages and escape the country in the ready helicopters. However, things did not go as smoothly as Carter would have hoped, according to http://www.specwarnet.net/miscinfo/eagleclaw.htm. Due to a flying height limitation, the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    On 9 July 1943, the Allied Forces initiated the invasion of Sicily, or “Operation Husky”. This invasion was the largest amphibious operation conducted during World War II and utilized over 2,590 vessels and involved approximately a half million soldiers, sailors, and airmen. While this invasion was a victory for the Allies and provided them with a launch pad for its invasion of Italy, senior leaders made many mistakes in their planning, execution, decision making, and coordination. As a result, analysis of this operation provides excellent lessons learned that are still relevant today for future joint commanders and staff. Lastly, of the six joint functions integrated into joint or combined operations, this paper focuses on evaluating, at the…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chapter 2: Operation Glory---Mission (Kind of) Accomplished: The chapter focuses on the reception of U.S. dead soldiers from North Korea (Operation Glory). It asserts that the failure of enforcing item 13(f) of the Korean War Armistice to recover remains in the hostile territory must be attributed to mutual distrust and tragic accidents, rather than merely North Koreans’ defiance of the agreement. Another preliminary finding is that the successful identification of many of the recovered remains should be credited to the military frequent outreach to soldiers’ families and clinics for their physical information, which probably changed contemporary people’s idea of identifying human remains. This chapter begins with the Korean War Armistice Agreement…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1979, the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries and several Americans were taken hostage. However, six managed to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the CIA was eventually ordered to get them out of the country. With few options, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez devised a daring plan: to create a phony Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as its production crew. With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts, Mendez created the ruse and proceed to Iran as its associate producer. However, time was running out with the Iranian security forces closing in on the truth while both his charges and the White House had grave doubts about the operation themselves. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Operation Fortitude

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Over the last few months, there has been a deal of controversy in the media and general public due to the introduction of a new department, the Australian Border Force, by now former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.The Australian Border Force merges the functionality of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection into one organisation. A number of concerns have arisen about the powers that Border Force possesses, as well as concerns about the militarisation of immigration. These concerns culminated into outrage after the release of details regarding Operation Fortitude, with many drawing comparisons between the Australian Border Force and secret police units from authoritarian…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the mountainous Shah-i-Khot region south of the city of Gardez in Eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda took place early March 2002. Operation Anaconda, to this day, stands as the largest reported ground action in the Afghan war. This 17-day battle led to eight U.S. casualties and over 50 wounded. Operation Anaconda is viewed as a success due to coalition forces being able to kill and root out several hundred Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, which left U.S. and coalition forces in control of the Shah-i-Khot Valley. Originally intended to be a three-day battle with light resistance, a seven-day battle ensued with intense fighting and was finally stopped on 18 March after 17 long days. The classic “Hammer and Anvil” battle approach which was utilized struggled through a number of unforeseen issues: initial intelligence reports, U.S. command structure, Afghan Forces, and ground-air coordination of air strikes/support. In the following pages, the cause and effect of these issues will be discussed as well as the impact they had on Operation Anaconda pertaining to certain principles of war.…

    • 1403 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The tense standoff that followed the Iranian Hostage Crisis, and his failure to free the hostages led his government to be perceived as inept and inefficient; this perception increased after the failure of a secret U.S. military mission in April 1980.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Mcfarlane Essay

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In 1979, an Iranian government supported terrorist group overtook the US embassy. They captured 52 people. In an order to obtain the release of the American hostages being held in Lebanon, The Reagan Administration secretly began to sell weapons to Iran. This went against an American ban on arms sales to Iran, which had been in affect since the embassy had been seized. (Corrigan 40-41)…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Iran Hostage Crisis was when 52 Americans were held hostage for a year and 79 days in November 4th 1979 to January 20th, 1981 by University students in support of Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. This is a continuation from Operation Ajax effects on U.S. ties with Iran. (Also, known as the U.S. Embassy Crisis) During the 25 years the Shah ruled, many Iranians feared the autocratic leader. The Shah created the SAVAK police based from the CIA and the Israeli Mossad. Whoever disobeyed the law, was imprisoned or tortured. A “White Revolution” began from 1963 through 1978 imposing a sequence of reforms that opposed the traditional system. In January 1963, the Shah announced the White Revolution. Enforcing women’s’ rights, land reform, allowing non-Muslims to hold office, westernizing Iran, and much more were some of the initiatives for this revolution. Pahlavi imparted fear to the people and tried to modify Iran in every which way. During his time in office, people didn’t appreciate the Shah for his abuse of power and thought he was adversative to Iran’s society made up of 90% Muslims. They looked up to anti U.S radical religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini began to protest and give speeches about Iran’s’ Shah and his plans in January of 1963. Throughout the months of January through June, Khomeini gave speeches about the Shah and soon his crowd of people grew from nothing to many many people. In June 1963, authorities took Khomeini and detained him in Qom, Iran and took him to Tehran. This caused an uproar as his followers rioted. He was released in August but almost a year later, in November he was held in jail for half a year and was forced to apologize after he was released. Standing up for his views, Khomeini stood his ground and didn’t apologize. Later, he spent 14 years in exile and stayed in Turkey for less than a year and Iraq for the rest. While in exile, Khomeini…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1985, The Iran and Iraq war is feuding overseas and America had an embargo against selling arms to Iran. Our President was Ronald Reagan and the National Security Adviser was Robert McFarlane. “Iran made a secret request to buy weapons from the United States, McFarlane sought Reagan 's approval” McFarlane told Reagan “that the sale of arms would not only improve U.S. relations with Iran, but might in turn lead to improved relations with Lebanon, increasing U.S. influence in the troubled Middle East.” Reagan was having trouble with Lebanon the Iranian terrorist had Seven American hostages being held in Lebanon. Reagan was frustrated that he couldn’t bring these American hostages back home he believed that it was his duty. The U.S. an Iran were going to have to make a deal missiles for the hostages the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State were against making the deal but Reagan, McFarlane and the CIA director were all for the deal. Since Reagan backed the deal 1,500 missiles were shipped to Iran. The Iranian terrorist released three hostages but later captured three more.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Iran Hostage Crisis happened on November 4, 1979 when Iranian student revolutionaries took over the US Embassy in Tehran capturing 52 American hostages (Amies). The crisis demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the Carter administration in handling foreign affairs with Middle Eastern countries. Around 300 student revolutionaries gathered on the morning of November 4th to take over the US Embassy in order to protest against the Shah that went to the United States for medical treatment (CNN Library). The 52 hostages had to go through mental and physical abuse that included theft, beatings and the hostages were scared for their lives (Bowden). President Carter sent Operation Eagle Claw into action, it was a complete failure due to the technical difficulties with the helicopters, and the end the hostages were released due to the Iran Hostage Crisis Negotiations and were released after 444 days of captivity (PBS, Unknown). The results of Iran was a country that supported anti-Americanism and the United States placed many sanctions on Iran that cut off the overall ties between the two countries (Katzman). The Iran Hostage Crisis undermined Carter’s conduct of foreign policy; the crisis dominated headlines and news reports all over the world and showed Carter’s inability to resolve the issue quickly made his…

    • 1751 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    He dealt with the energy shortage, he prompted Government efficiency through civil service reform, he sought to improve the environment, and created the Department of Education. The biggest challenge Pres. Carter faced during his time in office, and the one where his virtue of prudence shined, was with Iran. On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and took approximately fifty-two Americans captive. The terrorist act triggered the most profound crisis of the Carter presidency and began a personal ordeal for Jimmy Carter and the American people that lasted 444 days. President Carter committed himself to the safe return of the hostages while protecting America's interests and prestige. He pursued a policy of restraint that put a higher value on the lives of the hostages over protecting his own political future. Ultimately, his choice to bring them home, ended in his defeat. Even after losing the election, Carter continued the difficult negotiations over the hostages. Iran finally released the fifty-two Americans the same day Pres. Carter left…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite the positive, Carter’s legacy was tainted by the Iran hostage crisis. Over fifty Americans were held in Iran as hostage for the old Shah, who was kicked by a revolution, was receiving treatment of cancer in the United States. Iranians were livid that the United Stated refused to turn the Shah over to Iran. Carter failed to resolve the crisis and it directly led to his loss in the next election. Despite his failures in the Iran Hostage Crisis, Carter passed important legislation domestically.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “In the late 1970s the hostage crisis became a symbol of America’s inability to take decisive action in the face of pervasive problems,” said David Brooks about the 1979 hostage crisis in the Middle East. If you ask an American that remembers this Iran hostage incident, they will say that it was a bad 3 years knowing that any day 66 lives could be lost in a blink of an eye. Even though 14 women, African Americans, and 1 ill were released after 2 years, 55 innocent people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time were there for a year more.. The Iran hostage crisis resulted from rising tensions between the two countries, Iran militants took matters in their own hands by capturing 66 U.S citizens, their…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Iran Hostage Crisis

    • 1993 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Iranian Hostage Crisis was a horrific event in which many American were captured and held hostage in the Iranian American embassy. In America, this was met with shock; spurring newfound hatred of Iranians. In the book Funny in Farsi, the author and her family, Iranian immigrants living in Southern California, are subjected to the scrutiny and prejudice of the people around them for that reason.…

    • 1993 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Diplomatic relations were severed after Iranian students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and held American diplomats hostage in November 1979. Since then suspicion and hostility have characterized relations between the two nations. This three-decade-long confrontation is fueled by three main charges against Iran—fostering nuclear proliferation, sponsoring terrorism, and obstructing the Arab-Israeli peace process. More recently, Tehran’s role in destabilizing Iraq has been added to the list. Iranian officials categorically deny these accusations.…

    • 3108 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays