Neven, Tom The Most Successful Failure

Operation Eagle Claw and the Birth of Modern Special Operations Forces

On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took all diplomatic staff hostage. The United States was completely taken by surprise by this act of terrorism, and although President Jimmy Carter initially sought a diplomatic solution to the crisis, he authorized the military to plan a rescue mission. They faced a daunting task: to move an assault force undetected thousands of miles into enemy territory, free the hostages, and secure their withdrawalall with limited equipment and intelligence. Just ten years earlier, the U.S. had conducted a special operation deep in the heart of North Vietnam to free American prisoners of war at the Son Tay camp, but that capability had been severely diminished in the intervening years and was virtually nonexistent. Nevertheless, planners gradually assembled a team and devised a plan to infiltrate an assault force directly into the U.S. embassy compound in Tehran and free the hostages. The plan, which pushed U.S. military capabilities to their limits, was so complex and fraught with potential pitfalls that many doubted its feasibility. Yet on April 24, 1980, the mission, codenamed "Eagle Claw," was launched. It ended in disaster when two aircraft collided in the darkness and confusion of a rushed retreat in the middle of the Iranian desert. Eight American soldiers died. It was a humiliating failure, but not a final defeat. The lessons learned from that desert debacle were used in less than 20 years to build an unprecedented special operations capability, culminating in a near-perfect operation in May 2011 that killed Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Years later, one participant in the "Eagle Claw" mission described that terrible day in April 1980 as "the most successful failure." Much has been written about this operation, but this new, comprehensive account draws on thousands of recently released documents, providing additional details and previously untold stories. The book also includes more than 35 personal interviews and accounts from mission participants, as well as archival material.