President Jimmy Carter died today...may he rest in peace.
Far be it from me to demonize him, although it would not be hard to do so.
He was a successful business man and a Naval Academy grad.
But, President Jimmy Carter had many failures - one of the worst was the Desert One debacle, in addition to creating the Department of Education, and economic misery.
The failed mission of Desert One was one of the final disasters of the Carter presidency, where many U.S. servicemen died in a failed rescue attempt of the Iranian hostages.
Russel 'Rotor' Rakip, RIP, was my squadron commander as a MH-53J pilot at the 20th Special Operations Squadron in the early 1990s.
Rakip was a U.S. Air Force helicopter pilot amongst many pilots from the U.S. Marine Corp inside the rescue attempt.
After this failure, U.S. Special Operations became a priority inside the Department of Defense, and the rest is history.
However, as war with Iran looms great, history may repeat itself, or at least rhyme, in the near future.
To heck with Jimmy Carter:
1. Mullahs in Tehran;
2. Education Department;
3. Panama Canal;
4. Inflation;
5. Malaise;
6. Energy shortages;
7. Soviets in Afghanistan;
He counseled us not to have an inordinate fear of communism!
I was a "man on the street" brief interview by my local Tv station and it was picked up by national news, someone told me. I never saw it myself, so don't know if it is true. Horrible tragedy that was synonymous for the whole Carter Administraion.
Only and "intellectual" would look at a plan that complex involving that many assets and say it would work.