Varying accounts of U.S./Coalition Hostage Rescue Mission in Raqqa, Syria

Twitter ^ | 1-1-2015 | Various

[Rashputin]

Any way it went, they were poorly prepared for the conditions they encountered and there were people around who would have dispersed the aircraft on the ground more because they had worked with the Shah's troops in that part of Iran and knew the conditions.

I mean, come on, even a bus they should have and could have known was on that route was unexpected and had to be halted then held at gunpoint??

Any way you cut it there was just a lot more dust than he and others expected and they should have expected exactly those conditions. There is also a question of whether there were two people rather than one directing the traffic on the ground when one was supposed to be in charge with no one else directing aircraft.

I'll see if I can find the box with a book about it and if that's where such details are laid out. If so, I'll post the title and such but it'll be a while before I can clamber up into the attic.

Col. Beckwith was related to a good friend of mine also named Beckwith and I just remember him talking about how much dust there was just prior to the accident, more than he expected, and how he thought organization of the site was breaking down even prior to the crash. I also recall him saying he didn't know if it was another dust storm or something else like another aircraft winding up other than the ones he knew about. I think all of this was in his book, another one of the subject, or the Congressional report.

[ansel12]

I got to do some drinking with Beckwith one night, and like the Air force commander, he blamed Carter for making him use Marine helicopter pilots (they replaced the Navy pilots that Beckwith drove off).

[Rashputin]

I believe the pilots were the root of the problem and recall he felt the same way although I don't remember who he had picked and why they weren't used.

They weren't trained for what they were doing is what I remember when talking with him, not anything like the pilots being screwups or some such. Different habits and expectations is how I think he put it. He may have been more harsh at other times, I don't know.

It was, as they say, a Mongolian Cluster Flock all the way around.

[ansel12]

He wanted to court martial one or two of the first batch (Navy), he was not happy about the pilots they had to use, at all, and the Air Commander felt the same way.

I don’t know why you say that everyone was messed up? No one else even got started, especially Delta.

[Rashputin]

The Iranian bus passengers were entertained, so yeah, it was all good.

[BenLurkin]

a clash took place between coalition troops fighters.

Sounds like a hastily planned mission -- assuming the fight was due to mistaken identity.

[SunkenCiv]

Why, what happened, did ISIS kidnap someone working on Iran’s nuclear bomb?

[SunkenCiv]

Five coalition aircrafts reportedly hovered over Raqqa at a low altitude while approximately one dozed raids were launched upon on the outskirts of the Syrian city. Multiple ISIS buildings were believed destroyed during the Raqqa raid. While the raids were conducted, two helicopter gunships reportedly tried to deploy the U.S. Special Forces team. The gunships took heavy fire and ultimately aborted their final attempt to land. Intense clashes took place between the ISIS fighters and coalition forces on the ground.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1721785/isis-hostage-rescue-abandoned-after-u-s-special-forces-take-heavy-fire/