OT: If Operation Eagle Claw had been successful
The ill fated rescue attempt that was mentioned near the end, had that had gone according to plan, what could that mean for the US?
shareOne possibility is the US might have been subjected to terrorist reprisals by Iran throughout the world. I'm sure Delta would have killed some Iranians during the assault which would have made Iran even more hostile towards the US and caused Iran to retaliate through terrorist actions. They might not have been able to do much on the US mainland but given back in the 1980's with all the bases in Europe, Lebanon, Turkey, etc. there might have been bombings and attacks on military personnel throughout the world. Attacks similar to the Disco bombing by Libya in Germany that killed Americans.
The fact that Eagle Claw failed actually might have been a blessing in disguise for the military. It showed we lacked quality helicopters for long-range flight and night operations. It also showed the need for better trained pilots for these types of missions and better coordination between services. These issues led to the development of the Blackhawk helicopter, the 160th SOAR Nightstalkers and JSOC. The development of these were crucial to success in operations since.
Why did they fly from south Iran?
Couldn't they have moved their ship nearer the Iraqi port which would mean less distance to fly and a greater success chance?
Or even go over land from Turkey or Iraq and wasn't Hussein a friend at the time?
I don't know for sure why they didn't come in from those other locations but I speculate they didn't trust those countries to keep the secret. Iran and Iraq weren't at war yet and Turkey has sometimes been a reluctant ally. The plan required total surprise. To be honest, I've read a couple books about it and the plan was extremely complicated. Needing surprise in order to get the hostages alive was key. The planners might not wanted any other country to know they were planning something in case some sympathetic person in the military/intelligence in Iraq or Turkey would have warned Iran. Similar concerns were raised in the Bin Laden raid. A big question when they started planning that mission was whether or not to tell the Pakistanis about the plan. Almost no one believed Pakastani intelligence would keep it a secret so they had to figure out how to get there without Pakistan knowing. Secrecy and surprise are essential in hostage rescues so the fewer who know about it and can compromise the secrecy, the better.
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