Posted on 04/20/2006 4:08:59 PM PDT by shoptalk
I recently confirmed my suspicions about a friend of mine. I knew he was Delta back about then. He just told me that he was there and buried a few members of his team. I knew better than to ask him for more details, just thanked him again.
Well, thank you much.
I'm glad to see this article, and I hope to see more connect the dots. Jimmy Carter's legacy should not be forgotten - now especially.
If you're thinking he "negotiated" the Sadat-Begin deal, the fact is, it was Sadat's initiative, and the Israelis leapt at the chance. Jimmuh provided a few cabins in the woods, a nice gesture from a President who's only achievements consisted of a series of.....nice gestures.
May God continue to watch over the families of those that perished during that mission.
FUBAR ping
ping
Jimmy Carter Attacked by Killer Rabbit (April 20, 1979)
Today in Odd History, President Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit during a fishing trip in Plains, Georgia. The rabbit, which may have been fleeing a predator, swam toward his boat, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared." President Carter was forced to swat at the vicious beast with a canoe paddle, which apparently scared it off.
Upon his return to the White House, Carter told his staff about the furry amphibian's assault. Most of them refused to believe him, insisting that rabbits can't swim (although since most mammals can swim, there's no reason to believe that rabbits cannot), and that even if they could, they certainly wouldn't attack humans, and certainly not presidents. Fortunately, a White House photographer had been on the scene, and had recorded the bizarre attack. The photograph showed Carter with his paddle raised, warding off a small creature which might, or might not, have been a rabbit. One staffer was quoted as saying, "You couldn't tell what it was." Undaunted by their skepticism, Carter had the image enlarged, and there it was--a killer bunny rabbit, apparently bent on assassinating the president.
The story might have ended there, except that White House Press Secretary Jody Powell mentioned the incident to Associated Press reporter Brooks Jackson in August. The Washington Post ran it as front page news. The original photograph was not available (until the Reagan administration leaked it in 1981), but the paper filled the gap with a cartoon modeled on the poster for the movie Jaws, starring the rabbit and entitled Paws. Powell made a belated attempt to impress the public with the seriousness of the attack, calling the creature a "swamp rabbit," but since Carter had to appease his rabbit-loving constituents by insisting that he had not actually smacked his buck-toothed opponent with his paddle, but only splashed water at it to drive it away, it seemed unlikely that he had been in danger. The entire episode became a symbol of Carter's floundering presidency. According to Powell, "[I]t shows the extent to which an insignificant incident can snowball and end up in newspapers and news shows across the country. Carter biographer Douglas Brinkley says, It just played up the Carter flake factor.... I mean, he had to deal with Russia and the Ayatollah and here he was supposedly fighting off a rabbit.
Note: While some presidential apologists have suggested that Carter might actually have been attacked by a nutria, a large, aggressive aquatic rodent, others have insisted that the President's assailant was a simple, if unusually vicious, bunny rabbit. Fulk, the 12th century king of Jerusalem, was killed by a rabbit. (Well, really he was killed by a fall from his horse, but the horse had been startled by a rabbit.) And many years ago, I was the owner of a Blue Dutch rabbit named Sequin. One of my friends still bears the scars of an encounter with Sequin--a perfectly matched set of parallel teeth marks, where Sequin's fangs closed on her hand and ripped through the flesh when she pulled her hand away. Bunnies are, indeed, fiercer than anyone but Monty Python has generally given them credit for.
Oh too funny but I like your McCain undercover stuff better!
Carter did more to damage America in four years than any president before or since--Clinton & Clinton had eight.
Betraying Taiwan and the Shah, giving away the Canal, embracing every enemy, shunning every friend.
The release of the hostages synchronous with Reagan's innauguration says it all.
May that be the last thought in Carter's brain when he dies.
your timeline is a little off
the EAPS filters were removed for 5% more horsepower, not range
http://rescueattempt.tripod.com
Thanks for the ping.
I helped out on this new book, and also the Discovery Channel special that is coming out any day here.
We were all supposed to get free copies of the film! ...And book!
I do too. I remember it. I was quite young, but I remember feeling ashamed for my country. It's the only time in my life I ever felt that way.
The disaster in the desert was when I started to question my support for Carter and liberalism in general, leading to my vote for Reagan that November - my first ever vote for a Republican.
It was my first election. I voted for Reagan and have voted Republican ever since.
You are correct. The helos were put on the Nimitz in Naples over the Christmas hoilidays. Rescue attempt went in late April. I was writing from 25 year old memory, I should have checked. (Time moves at a different rate when you are just driving around in circles in the middle of the ocean for that long a time.)
The helo guys I talked to on the hangar bay said the screens were removed for the range.
Sometimes when I look at my children I say to myself, "Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin."
Thanks to George 76 for this great post.
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