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ill prepared for a terrorist siege. Carter, inexperienced Further Reading
in foreign affairs, relied on Zbigniew Brzezinski, his
Acree, Cliff M. The Iranian Hostage Rescue Mission: What
national security adviser, who favored force, and
Went Wrong? Norfolk, VA: Armed Forces Staff College,
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who favored diplo- 1984.
macy, to shape his foreign policy. When diplomacy Campbell, James L. Downfall at Desert One: The Cost of
failed on April 16, 1980, Carter approved a military Operational Security in the Iran Rescue Operation.
rescue operation. Newport, RI: Naval War College, 1990.
Three branches of the service—Army, Air Force, Christopher, Warren, et al. American Hostages in Iran: The
and Marines—were to be involved in the rescue. The Conduct of a Crisis. New Haven, CT: Yale University
two-day plan called for helicopters and C-130 Air Press, 1985.
Force planes to land 250 miles from Tehran on a salt Jordan, Hamilton. Crisis: The Last Years of the Carter
Presidency. New York: Putnam, 1982.
flat in the Dasht-e-Kavir desert (code named Desert
Kyle, James H., and John Robert Eidson. The Guts to Try:
One), where the helicopters would refuel from the
The Untold Story of the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission by
C-130s and pick up combat troops. The helicopters
the On-Scene Desert Commander. New York: Orion,
would then transport troops to the mountain location
1990.
from which the actual rescue mission would launch
the following night. Starting on April 19, forces were
deployed throughout Oman and the Arabian Sea; on
April 24, Operation Eagle Claw began. ORANGE VOLUNTEERS
Eight Navy helicopters left the U.S.S. Nimitz just
after 7 P.M. En route, two helicopters experienced
mechanical failure and could not continue; the entire Relatively little is known about the Orange
group was hindered by a low-level dust storm (haboob) Volunteers, a Northern Irish terrorist organization that
that reduced visibility to one mile. Six helicopters has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on
landed at Desert One just after 1 A.M., more than Roman Catholics beginning in 1998.
90 minutes late. There, another helicopter was deemed Since the late 1960s, Northern Ireland, a province
unfit for service and the mission, which could not be of Great Britain, has experienced steady and violent
accomplished with only five helicopters, was aborted. conflict between Catholics, who wish Northern
As the forces were leaving, a helicopter collided with Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland, and
a C-130 and exploded, destroying both and killing Protestants, who wish it to remain a part of the United
five members of the Air Force, three of the Marines. Kingdom. Both communities fostered armed para-
Remaining personnel were quickly evacuated by plane, military groups that were prepared to use violence
leaving several helicopters, equipment, weapons, maps, to achieve their ends. In the early 1970s, a Protestant
and the dead behind. Iranian intelligence discovered paramilitary group known as the Orange Volunteers,
this material, which led to the near-capture of other led by former British soldier Bob Marno, was formed.
Special Operations Forces on the ground in Tehran. Members claimed responsibility for some murders
Operation Eagle Claw led to a transformation of of Catholics between 1974 and 1977, but the Orange
U.S. military internal operating procedures. After Volunteers were principally known for its association
investigations concluded that the weaknesses of with the 1974 Ulster Worker’s Council (UWC) strike.
Operation Eagle Claw arose from lack of coordination This strike had caused the failure of the Sunningdale
between the military services, evidenced, in part, by Agreement, the first serious peace attempt between
compartmentalized training and inadequate equipment Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
maintenance, the military embraced the “joint doctrine” Before the strike, the UWC was a largely unknown
under which it currently operates. Operation Eagle organization with little political power. The UWC
Claw also inspired a rebirth of the Special Operations engaged paramilitaries from the Ulster Volunteer
Forces, including the development of elite counterter- Force (UVF), the Ulster Defense Association (UDA),
rorism forces such as SEAL Team Six. and the Orange Volunteers to compel workers to stay
home during the strike’s early days. (Once the strike
See also COUNTERTERRORISM; IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS; seemed to be having an effect, most workers stayed
SEAL TEAM SIX home voluntarily.) After the strike, the Orange