Launching an Eagle Claw Operation (Case Study Sample)

Launching an Eagle Claw Operation 

Overview
Operation eagle claw is one of the many historical U.S military operations that are popularly talked about. It was an April 1980 military rescue operation plan aimed at rescuing U.S embassy hostages in Tehran in Iran. American embassy staff working in the U.S embassy in Tehran had been captured and held hostage by a group of Iranian college students and the negotiations between Iran and the U.S to release the hostages had taken months but failed (Asomf.org, 2022). Therefore, the U.S through the order of then President Jimmy Carter declared a military operation as the last resort to rescue the embassy staff from the hostage. The military combined the navy, the air force, and the ground military combined efforts and planned a rescue plan where they planned to ambush the U.S embassy in Iran where the staff had been held hostages for several months (Richard, 2002). Unfortunately, operation eagle claw failed because of several reasons including poor planning, logistical challenges, technical failure, and environmental challenges. The crash of helicopters killed several military men, and the breakdown and technical failure of some other weaponry forced the military to abort the mission in the critical hours when the troops were already on Iranian soil (Lambert, 2020). The tragic failure of the operation eagle complicated issues for President Jimmy Carter prompting him to lose the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan making him a one-term president.
Questions and answers
Question 1
I do not agree with Carter’s decision of launching an Eagle claw operation to rescue the American hostages. One main reason why I think so is that the chances of success of these operations were slim because of the distance between the U.S and Iran. It was obvious that the military was going to experience logistical and technical challenges that they face because of the distance (Asomf.org, 2022). Secondly, the operation was impractical because Iran had a strong military power that could easily counter the U.S attacks hence making things difficult and also endangering the lives of the hostage (Russell, 2012). The entire operation plan was rushed and thus, some critical factors such as the terrain, the weather, and environmental condition were not factored in the plans and thus endangered the lives of the military men and the weaponry.
Question 2
Yes, it is true that if there were people with self-leadership qualities in Carter’s decision-making, they would have guided the team to make better decisions than what they settled on. One of the characteristics of individuals with better self-leadership qualities is that they often do a cost-benefit analysis before making any decision. In this situation, the decision makers were supposed to do a cost-benefit analysis of the operation to establish whether it was worth it (Asomf.org, 2022). From the outcome of the operation, it was clear that the operation had a heavy negative impact on the U.S than it was thought. The U.S lost 8 military men in a helicopter crash in a desert in Iran. In addition, the troops abandoned several helicopters and other expensive military equipment in the desert as they were trying to escape before Iran knew about their mission.