The Desert One Debacle

The Atlantic Monthly ^ | May 2006 | Mark Bowden

[shoptalk]

WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 11, 1980, NOON

The meeting began with Jimmy Carter's announcement: “Gentlemen, I want you to know that I am seriously considering an attempt to rescue the hostages.”

Hamilton Jordan, the White House chief of staff, knew immediately that the president had made a decision. Planning and practice for a rescue mission had been going on in secret for five months, but it had always been regarded as the last resort, and ever since the November 4 embassy takeover, the White House had made every effort to avoid it. As the president launched into a list of detailed questions about how it was to be done, his aides knew he had mentally crossed a line.

Carter had met the takeover in Iran with tremendous restraint, equating the national interest with the well-being of the fifty-three hostages, and his measured response had elicited a great deal of admiration, both at home and abroad. His approval ratings had doubled in the first month of the crisis. But in the following months, restraint had begun to smell like weakness and indecision. Three times in the past five months, carefully negotiated secret settlements had been ditched by the inscrutable Iranian mullahs, and the administration had been made to look more foolish each time. Approval ratings had nose-dived, and even stalwart friends of the administration were demanding action. Jimmy Carter’s formidable patience was badly strained.

And the mission that had originally seemed so preposterous had gradually come to seem feasible. It was a two-day affair with a great many moving parts and very little room for error--one of the most daring thrusts in U.S. military history. It called for a nighttime rendezvous of helicopters and planes at a landing strip in the desert south of Tehran, where the choppers would refuel...

[cyclotic]

I recently confirmed my suspicions about a friend of mine. I knew he was Delta back about then. He just told me that he was there and buried a few members of his team. I knew better than to ask him for more details, just thanked him again.

[Roccus]

Well, thank you much.

[zechariah]

ping

[z]

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

[Roccus]

Here's something I'd forgotten about. Your post brought it back to mind. The sand fleas DID think us weak. Not long after the hostages were taken in Iran, our embassy in Afghanistan was attacked, sacked and our ambassador murdered. For the life of me, I can't remember as we did anything about that either. I'm working from memory here and it was 27 yrs. ago, but I think my facts are straight.

[D-fendr]

I'm glad to see this article, and I hope to see more connect the dots. Jimmy Carter's legacy should not be forgotten - now especially.

[cookcounty]

Funny how he puts so much stock in negotiations, having seen first hand so much failure (maybe he wants miserable company).

If you're thinking he "negotiated" the Sadat-Begin deal, the fact is, it was Sadat's initiative, and the Israelis leapt at the chance. Jimmuh provided a few cabins in the woods, a nice gesture from a President who's only achievements consisted of a series of.....nice gestures.

[Backstop73]

May God continue to watch over the families of those that perished during that mission.

[ntnychik]

FUBAR ping

[dancusa]

ping

[Smartass]

THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMUH CAWTUH

---

Jimmy Carter Attacked by Killer Rabbit (April 20, 1979)

Today in Odd History, President Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit during a fishing trip in Plains, Georgia. The rabbit, which may have been fleeing a predator, swam toward his boat, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared." President Carter was forced to swat at the vicious beast with a canoe paddle, which apparently scared it off.

Upon his return to the White House, Carter told his staff about the furry amphibian's assault. Most of them refused to believe him, insisting that rabbits can't swim (although since most mammals can swim, there's no reason to believe that rabbits cannot), and that even if they could, they certainly wouldn't attack humans, and certainly not presidents. Fortunately, a White House photographer had been on the scene, and had recorded the bizarre attack. The photograph showed Carter with his paddle raised, warding off a small creature which might, or might not, have been a rabbit. One staffer was quoted as saying, "You couldn't tell what it was." Undaunted by their skepticism, Carter had the image enlarged, and there it was--a killer bunny rabbit, apparently bent on assassinating the president.

The story might have ended there, except that White House Press Secretary Jody Powell mentioned the incident to Associated Press reporter Brooks Jackson in August. The Washington Post ran it as front page news. The original photograph was not available (until the Reagan administration leaked it in 1981), but the paper filled the gap with a cartoon modeled on the poster for the movie Jaws, starring the rabbit and entitled Paws. Powell made a belated attempt to impress the public with the seriousness of the attack, calling the creature a "swamp rabbit," but since Carter had to appease his rabbit-loving constituents by insisting that he had not actually smacked his buck-toothed opponent with his paddle, but only splashed water at it to drive it away, it seemed unlikely that he had been in danger. The entire episode became a symbol of Carter's floundering presidency. According to Powell, "[I]t shows the extent to which an insignificant incident can snowball and end up in newspapers and news shows across the country.” Carter biographer Douglas Brinkley says, “It just played up the Carter flake factor.... I mean, he had to deal with Russia and the Ayatollah and here he was supposedly fighting off a rabbit.”

Note: While some presidential apologists have suggested that Carter might actually have been attacked by a nutria, a large, aggressive aquatic rodent, others have insisted that the President's assailant was a simple, if unusually vicious, bunny rabbit. Fulk, the 12th century king of Jerusalem, was killed by a rabbit. (Well, really he was killed by a fall from his horse, but the horse had been startled by a rabbit.) And many years ago, I was the owner of a Blue Dutch rabbit named Sequin. One of my friends still bears the scars of an encounter with Sequin--a perfectly matched set of parallel teeth marks, where Sequin's fangs closed on her hand and ripped through the flesh when she pulled her hand away. Bunnies are, indeed, fiercer than anyone but Monty Python has generally given them credit for.

[JustPiper]

Oh too funny but I like your McCain undercover stuff better!

[PhilDragoo]

History Channel now doing an hour on the 2500-year history of Iran.

Carter did more to damage America in four years than any president before or since--Clinton & Clinton had eight.

Betraying Taiwan and the Shah, giving away the Canal, embracing every enemy, shunning every friend.

The release of the hostages synchronous with Reagan's innauguration says it all.

May that be the last thought in Carter's brain when he dies.

[RaceBannon]

your timeline is a little off

the EAPS filters were removed for 5% more horsepower, not range

http://rescueattempt.tripod.com

[RaceBannon]

Thanks for the ping.

I helped out on this new book, and also the Discovery Channel special that is coming out any day here.

We were all supposed to get free copies of the film! ...And book!

[Allegra]

I can't read more. I known how it ends.

I do too. I remember it. I was quite young, but I remember feeling ashamed for my country. It's the only time in my life I ever felt that way.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

The disaster in the desert was when I started to question my support for Carter and liberalism in general, leading to my vote for Reagan that November - my first ever vote for a Republican.

[Allegra]

leading to my vote for Reagan that November - my first ever vote for a Republican.

It was my first election. I voted for Reagan and have voted Republican ever since.

[CPOSharky]

your timeline is a little off

You are correct. The helos were put on the Nimitz in Naples over the Christmas hoilidays. Rescue attempt went in late April. I was writing from 25 year old memory, I should have checked. (Time moves at a different rate when you are just driving around in circles in the middle of the ocean for that long a time.)

The helo guys I talked to on the hangar bay said the screens were removed for the range.

[Grampa Dave]

The real history/legacy of Jimmy Carter, the man who hated America and still does.

[Grampa Dave]

Lillian Carter' comments, when she looked at Jimmy/Billy:

Sometimes when I look at my children I say to myself, "Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin."

 

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/20935.html

Thanks to George 76 for this great post.