Desert One

One of the great tragedies in the history of U. S. military operations outside of an actual war itself was the attempt in April 1980 by the U. S. Special Forces unit known as the Delta Force to effect a rescue of the personnel being held at our besieged embassy in Teheran, Iran. The operation, known as Eagle Claw, owing to a lack of foresight at the highest levels, was both well-intentioned and, sadly, misconceived; and owing to two of the eight helicopters involved in that operation malfunctioning, plus a blinding sandstorm in the Iranian desert, resulted in the deaths of eight U. S. servicemen on April 24, 1980, and prolonged the Iranian hostage crisis until January 20, 1981.

DESERT ONE, a 2019 documentary directed by Barbara Kopple, the legendary documentary filmmaker responsible for, among many classic docs, 1976's HARLAN COUNTY U. S. A., and 2006's DIXIE CHICKS: SHUT UP AND SING, takes a look at the lead-up to this event, including America's turbulent relationship with Iran, one which went rocky in 1953 when Iran's then-leader, and democratically elected prime minister, Mohammed Mosadegh was overthrown and killed in a violent CIA-sponsored coup. This resulted in the ascension of Reza Pahlavi, the "Shah", to power in Iran, where he was for all intents and purposes a "toady" for the United States. But in 1979, the Shah was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeni; and on November 4th of that year, radical students inspired by Khomeni seized the American embassy, holding fifty-two American diplomats hostage. This prompted then-President Jimmy Carter to instigate Operation Eagle Claw. The intent was to hatch a raid seemingly similar to Israel's 1976 Entebbe rescue mission. Its failure, and the deaths of the eight servicemen, dealt a blow to American prestige and morale, prolonged the hostage crisis, doomed Carter's re-election chances in 1980, and led to Ronald Reagan's ascension to the presidency.

In DESERT ONE, we get interviews with both Carter and his vice-president Walter Mondale, as well as interviews with former CIA director Robert Gates; legendary ABC newsman Ted Koppel (whose "Nightline" followed the Tehran hostage crisis from start to finish, and would become a fixture on ABC's late night programming for decades to come); and many of the embassy hostages and surviving members of Operation Eagle Claw (Michael Metrinko; James Q. Roberts; Ed Seiffert), as well as recorded telephone conversations between President Carter and Charles Beckwith, the legendary special forces commander responsible for the creation of Delta Force, of what was happening with the mission as it was unfolding and, unfortunately, fatally unraveling. Much of what emerges from DESERT ONE is the realization that dealing with what we call Middle East radicalism (especially when, in the case of Iran, it's something that our own government foments) and, eventually, terrorism is not nearly as cut-and-dried as we may have wanted to think it was.

But what also emerges is the fact that a group of good men at least had the guts to try and rescue our personnel from the hellhole they found themselves put in by the takeover of the embassy; and they deserve all the credit, the praise, and the commendations from We The People that they can get.

Desert One provides a thoughtful revisit to one of the greatest intelligence failures in recent American history. How is it possible that this tragic mission was green-lighted at the highest levels of our government when according to the film, its realistic chances for success seemed so painfully and obviously lacking? As the documentary clearly points out, a key element in the rescue plan required a nighttime multi-helicopter journey over hundreds of miles of unknown (and likely dangerous) desert terrain and weather conditions. Apparently all of this was to be done with only limited advance preparation and thus a minimal awareness of the probable circumstances we could reasonably expect to encounter in the mission.

It is said that success has many parents but failure is always an orphan. Desert One presents an obvious example of just how true this statement is. As the documentary recalls one unforeseen and surprising event after another---the cumulative effects of which ultimately led to an aborting of the mission--we again are struck by its apparent lack of appropriate readiness and the absence of reliable intelligence that denied us the opportunity to get a more sober assessment of Operation Eagle Claw's chances for a positive outcome.

Desert One unfolds in a sober and riveting way as it tells us the story of this mission, the truly brave men who participated in it and where and how it went wrong. Of course unanswered questions remain. Who were the principal cabinet advisors who counseled President Carter to go ahead with Operation Eagle Claw given all its risks? Why were we so ill prepared to deal with the real conditions encountered on the ground? Could the mission have been aborted sooner based upon the facts experienced at the time?

We come away from seeing Desert One much better informed about this sad episode. That is the hallmark of a good documentary. We should be grateful to all who participated in its creation who enabled us to better understand the facts depicted in Desert One. And when another such dangerous mission does turn out well--like the later taking out of Osama Bin Laden-we should better appreciate the tremendous difficulties heroic Americans needed to overcome to achieve that success.

This is a documentary about the 1980 Iran hostage crisis. I expected this to be more a detailed examination of the preparations and then the execution of the hostage rescue. I know the rescue was short-circuited by the accident. So I expected a lot of preparations to fill this up. Instead, there is next to no preparations. I don't mean the documentary doesn't have much on the preparations. I mean the operation doesn't seem to have much preparations. There is one snippet of a participant complaining about President Carter delaying the operation. My feeling is that he should be happy about the delay so that they could do as many run-throughs as possible. I expected a replica of the embassy. I expected a full replica of the neighborhood. I expected some planning for the refueling area. I am confused about the lack of practice before the big game. This documentary is a regurgitation of everything around the event. A lot of this is well known. I wasn't around back then so some of the minutia is new to me. I didn't know a mother went to visit one of the hostages. The recreation of the rescue is done with comic style drawings. It's probably the most compelling part of the movie and worthwhile to be remade into an action thriller. Of course, Hollywood likes a happy ending which isn't this. This is probably never getting the full theatrical treatment.

This doc fails to mention that Reagan/Bush had the hostages held an extra 100 days in exchange for tow missles which led to Iran Contra. The irony is that Carter was there to meet the hostages being released while Reagan the Traitor was being inaugurated.

Sad to whitewash history when you have the chance to tell the truth.

From Esquire : What happened next Mr. Barnes has largely kept secret for nearly 43 years. Mr. Connally, he said, took him to one Middle Eastern capital after another that summer, meeting with a host of regional leaders to deliver a blunt message to be passed to Iran: Don't release the hostages before the election. Mr. Reagan will win and give you a better deal. Then shortly after returning home, Mr. Barnes said, Mr. Connally reported to William J. Casey, the chairman of Mr. Reagan's campaign and later director of the Central Intelligence Agency, briefing him about the trip in an airport lounge.

Mr. Barnes identified four living people he said he had confided in over the years: Mark K. Updegrove, president of the L. B. J. Foundation; Tom Johnson, a former aide to Lyndon Johnson (no relation) who later became publisher of the Los Angeles Times and president of CNN; Larry Temple, a former aide to Mr. Connally and Lyndon Johnson; and H. W. Brands, a University of Texas historian. All four of them confirmed in recent days that Mr. Barnes shared the story with them years ago. "As far as I know, Ben never has lied to me," Tom Johnson said, a sentiment the others echoed. Mr. Brands included three paragraphs about Mr. Barnes's recollections in a 2015 biography of Mr. Reagan, but the account generated little public notice at the time.

Desert One covers the 1980 hostage situation between Iran and United States. Desert one does a good job at showing both perspectives of the situation from start to finish, as in before the 52 Americans were taken hostage to the release of the hostages. The film presents the main elements of the situation through, old television news footage of both Iran and American perspectives, many people who were involved in the situation for example; Jimmy Carter (president of the United States at the time), multiple hostages, men who was part of the rescue mission, Iranian civilians indirectly involved in the situation and Iranian guards of the hostages. This film chose to animate what happened at the rescue mission and they did a great job, the story telling over the animation gave the recreation of the event such a vivid feeling, it really made it feel like they filmed the actual rescue mission. Interviews of the people involved in the situation were well done and helped to make the story that much better. Good film.