What the US Should've Done...

[Tovarish1]

I know this is a little bit old but I'm just gonna say it anyway because it seemed like a good idea then and now (even though now it's too late because it's over.) Iraq...USA...what do they have in common??? Well they're both enemies with Iran! So US should've collaborated with Saddam, then the US and Saddam should've went over to Iran, taught them a lesson, and when the lesson was over, we should've turned our backs on Saddam. I wanna know what you people think about that idea, again, even though it's years late :?........

 

[The Other Guy]

We fooled around with this idea for years, and I believe we may have even sent weapons to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war (though we were privately funding Iran to get our hostages released) but we never planned full scale attacks.

 

[Tovarish1]

God... President Carter should have sent a conventional fighting force to Iran to get those hostages out. If it weren't for Carter, we'd still have great relations with Iran... Here's one thing that makes a good president... DON'T BE A PACIFIST. So why couldn't that idea have worked?

 

[A Can of Man]

God... President Carter should have sent a conventional fighting force to Iran to get those hostages out. If it weren't for Carter, we'd still have great relations with Iran... Here's one thing that makes a good president... DON'T BE A PACIFIST. So why couldn't that idea have worked?

A conventional army to get the hostages out? You mean launch a full scale invasion and take apart Iran and hope by the time troops got to Tehran there was actually something left of the hostages?

 

[rustybolt25]

God... President Carter should have sent a conventional fighting force to Iran to get those hostages out. If it weren't for Carter, we'd still have great relations with Iran... Here's one thing that makes a good president... DON'T BE A PACIFIST. So why couldn't that idea have worked?

:shock: A full scale army? Wouldn't the Iranians be covering the US with love now!

 

[Tovarish1]

Well yeah I left out a detail. Maybe Green Berets to rescue hostages maybe DEVGRU, but while the hostages are being rescued yeah, sure, launch an invasion of unconventional Marines and Soldiers.

 

[Chukpike]

Actually the did launch a rescue mission but it failed to reach the embassy where the hostages were being held.

 

[A Can of Man]

Read up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw

Look up Desert One as that was the code name of the refeulling point they set up in Iran. It's where things went irreversably south.

 

[Tovarish1]

Yeah... Carter was definitely a pacifist when it came to that ordeal.

 

[A Can of Man]

Yeah... Carter was definitely a pacifist when it came to that ordeal.

Did you even read about what happened?

 

[03USMC]

Well yeah I left out a detail. Maybe Green Berets to rescue hostages maybe DEVGRU, but while the hostages are being rescued yeah, sure, launch an invasion of unconventional Marines and Soldiers.

A Green Beret is a hat.

DEV-GRU or it's predecessor did not exsist at the time of Operation Eagle Claw.

 

[George]

Desert One might have worked had the Special Ops helo pilots from Hurlburt Field been used to fly the choppers. Also Wiki didn't mention that the Marines removed the dust filters from the choppers before heading into the desert.:shock::shoothea:

 

[Chukpike]

Desert One might have worked had the Special Ops helo pilots from Hurlburt Field been used to fly the choppers. Also Wiki didn't mention that the Marines removed the dust filters from the choppers before heading into the desert.:shock::shoothea:

Could you supply a source for the information about the dust filters being removed? Sounds like a more in-depth report than anything wikipedia has. The news reports when this happened where wildly conflicting.

 

[George]

Could you supply a source for the information about the dust filters being removed? Sounds like a more in-depth report than anything wikipedia has. The news reports when this happened where wildly conflicting.

Seems to me there was a book on it, plus articles in Air Force Magazine. Also I live near Hurlburt Field, being the A.F. casulties were from there the after action reports & analysis recieved a lot of attention in the local press.

 

[A Can of Man]

Well, I found this:

CH-53GSX A further update of six CH-53Gs with modern electronics, two external fuel tanks, counter measures and dust filters for the engines, particularly ordered for the deployment in Afghanistan starting in 2009.[11]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH-53_Sea_Stallion

This was the helicopter the Marines used for Eagle Claw.
Does this mean that these helicopters previously did not have dust filters?

Or if they did, maybe they were removed because the affected the range of the helicopters. Dunno, this is just pure speculation. Unfortunately, I never worked with any helicopters.

 

[George]

Well, I found this:

CH-53GSX A further update of six CH-53Gs with modern electronics, two external fuel tanks, counter measures and dust filters for the engines, particularly ordered for the deployment in Afghanistan starting in 2009.[11]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH-53_Sea_Stallion

This was the helicopter the Marines used for Eagle Claw.
Does this mean that these helicopters previously did not have dust filters?

Or if they did, maybe they were removed because the affected the range of the helicopters. Dunno, this is just pure speculation. Unfortunately, I never worked with any helicopters.

They were RH-53 minesweeping helicopters. Normally tow a minesweeping sled over water. It was, apparently, routiene to remove the filters before flight.

 

[rattler]

I have read so much about Eagle CLaw that my brain is a data dustbin about it where I do not seem to be able to retrieve the crictical information right now, but there are some feasible analysis out on the net that might help you understand the complex ploitical/strategical/tactical issues involved (and in the combination go way beyond the Wikipedia entry) with this missioin and the - also complex - reasons for its failure:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1997/Holzworth.htm

http://books.google.es/books?id=Wk1...epage&q=Operation Eagle Claw Analysis&f=false

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/7/2/15305/13801

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-13810.html

Rattler

 

[03USMC]

Desert One was a cluster. And really the US Military gutted and without funds for proper training, and conducting business on a shoe string budget thanks to cuts by the Carter Administration was ill prepared to conduct any type of expeditionary mission.

The only good thing that came out of Desert One was the spurring it provided to form and maintain SOF's at a high level of training and readiness.

160TH SOAR
Delta Force
Seal Team Six
Intelligence Support Activity
USAF Spec Operations Sqaudrons
and
USSOCOM

all have their roots in Operation Eagle Claw/Desert One eithier they or their predecessor were there or they were formed in Response.

 

[A Can of Man]

Cutting military and intelligence always seems like a convenient way to save money until you actually run into a situation where you need them.
Having said that, need to spend smart, not necessarily more.

 

[03USMC]

That was the problem they cut to the bone. Ships weren't sailing, aircraft weren't flying, Marines and Soliders were being shorted rifle range quals. Hell at times they couldn't cut checks for the military pay days.....thats how gutted Carter had it. I've talked to guys who were in then, it truely sucked to be in the military.