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ceeded- as had the Israelí coro–
mando raid in Entebbe, Uganda,
in 1976 and a similar West Ger–
man operation in Mogadishu,
Somalia, a year later- President
Ca rter could have salvaged
American honor from the deep–
ening Iranian quagmire. Even if
there had been bloodshed, with
the loss of life of sorne of the
hostages, the President could
have emerged as a hero.
White House and Defense De–
partment chiefs alike had been
confident of the mission's success.
One factor was definitely in their
favor: the element of surprise.
Until the time of the operation,
the United States had been im–
plementing only diplomatic a nd
economic countermeasures
against lran. Military actions
had been hinted at, but only
those of an indirect nature such
as a naval blockade.
Just "Bad Luck"?
Why, then, did this effort fail?
The mi ssi on was carefully
planned and repeatedly rehearsed
without the slightest indication
that the two spare helicopters to
back up the six did not represent
an adequate margin of safety.
A senior U.S. defense official
rema rked: "When it carne to the
event, however, we had failures
beyond a11 predictions. . . . We
had very bad luck."
A leading congressman also
characterized the aborted rescue
as "a n almost unbeliev–
able ... chain of bad luck."
But was it just ..very bad luck"
that a normally reliable type of
ai rcraft should fail three times in
a vi ta l operation? Was it only
"bad luck" that two of the chop–
pers should run into an unex–
pectedly fierce desert sandstorm,
forcing one craft down and the
other to turn back?
No, there's much more to it
than mere "bad luck." The true
answer might come as a surprise
to Americans living in today's
secularized society: lt is that
Almighty God, who wrought tre–
mendous miracles on behalf of
the English-speaking peoples in
6
World War
11
and other earlier
conflicts, is
no longer fighting on
America's side!
Iranians saw the failure of the
mission as a miraculous delivery.
The Iranian joint chiefs of
staff-who were caught napping
by the surprise move- said that
..God, helper of the deprived,
helps the nation of Ira n."
By why doesn't God help
America any longer?
Unwllling to Use Force
There is yet another equally
important reason as to why the
rescue operation failed so igno–
miniously.
It
has todo with Pres–
ident Carter's basic unwi11ingness
to use force in the conduct of
foreign affairs. He considers him–
self first and foremost a " human–
itarian." As a result of his out–
look the strategy of the rajd final–
ly decided upon simply wasn't
bold enough.
When the operation was first
conceived, the plans called for a
much larger strike force--one of
350 roen, conveyed by many heli–
copters, backed up by carrier–
based fighter-bombers.
Mr. Carter, wanting to exert
the mínimum of military power,
with as little violence and poten–
tia! loss of life as possible, scaled
the project down to 90 men, as
we11 as straining the mechanical
limits of the aircraft chosen. By
convincing himself of the ..hu–
manitarian" nature of the opera–
tion, noted columnist William
Safire,
44
the President narrowed
the danger of casualties, but low–
ered the chance of success. This
was surely humanitarian, but
tragically ineffective; beware the
daring of a cautious man."
Too much emphasis was
placed on ..abort" or "turn-back"
points-instead of assuring
enough power to guarantee suc–
cess. Military strategist Edward
Luttwak calls such planning ..de–
ciding to get married and concen–
trating on divorce arrange–
ments." Thus the predeterrnined
decision: ..no sixth helicopter, no
mission."
The mission could have pro-
ceeded even with the five remain–
ing helicopters. But the com–
ma nder in charge on the ground
knew that if real trouble
developed at the heart of the
operation a t the embassy, no fur–
ther a ir support would be forth–
coming- just as happened during
the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs
invasion in Cuba in 1961.
lt
seems that American leader–
ship refuses to learn the real
lesson of Vietnam: if you go to
batt le, be prepared to apply
enough force to get the job done!
Scripture too counsels that lead–
ers count the cost of an impend–
ing battle before committing
forces (Luke 14:31-32).
Columnist Safire says the res–
cue operation contained an
44
in–
stitutionally built-in denial of
nerve." But why is America
afraid to
act
the part of the
superpower it is. Why does it
"flee when none pursueth you?"
(Leviticus 26: 17). The answer, in
verse 19, is that timorous Ameri–
ca-which used to be the "home
of the brave"- has lost the pride
of its power!
Grave Repercusslons
America's fiasco in the Iranian
desert......... following nearly six
month s of indecisiveness- is
bound to have grave repercus–
sions.
First of al1, Iran is being slowly
forced into the Communist orbit.
Soviet-bloc countries are ready to
hetp Ira n with food , medicine,
manufactured goods and a mar–
ket for oil if Western Europe
joins, as expected, the United
States in enacting trade sanctions
against the government of the
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini .
The Soviet Union has agreed
to open three vital trade routes to
Iranian traffic ·in anticipation of
a possible U.S. blockade of lrari's
ports on the Persian Gulf.
lran has shown a further east–
ward tilt by signing an agreement
to sel1 Roma nía 100,000 barreis
of oil a day.
Even more serious than this
trend is the growing rift between
(Continued on page 39)
The
PLAIN TRUTH