Which in no way means it wasn't Carter's fault, and that of his national (in)security team. The raid was done on a shoestring. They wouldn't let them use the Air Force choppers that would have been better suited to the mission. But most importantly they wanted it to be low profile. What they should have done was given the Iranians a private ultimatum. Release hostages or we start bombing. We didn't have nearly the supply of smart bombs that we do now, but a couple of B-52 wings could still mess up a place real bad, without using nukes. We did have few smart bombs, and F-111s to deliver them to certain special locations, like the houses of the leading Mullahs. Of course such a tactic risked the hostages, and Carter would not allow that kind of PR nightmare.
One former AF officer that I had served with suggested that the BUFFs be accompanied by C-5s or C-141s, flying in the same formations as the BUFFs, near the tail end of the bomber stream. Then paratroops would HALO in behind the bombers, which would do their best to isolate the location where the hostages were being held. Choppers, Air Force ones designed for such long range missions, but operating from Navy Carriers, would swoop in and pick up hostages and troops. More BUFFs and Navy Tac Air would provide defense suppression and ground support during the operation. But that all required thinking big, whereas Carter was a small man and thought small.
Or we could have just contracted the operation out to the Israelies. :)
Remember that President of the United States was Carter not Reagan or Bush. He was coward enough not to do any thing like that.
I always thought embassies were extensions of the sovereign territory of the country. Invading one is identical with invading the country itself.
If so, why then did you Americans allow President Carter to let the Iranians humiliate your country instead of inflicting severe military blows on it? Why wasn't he impeached?
Can it happen again and if it does, what will be American response?
BTW, I think President Carter was the worst US president of the 20th century, even more so than President Clinton.
I became an American at heart watching the presidential debates between Ronald Reagan and President Carter. Listening to Reagan was the first time I understood America, its beauty and grandeur.
What a guy.