Your memory is correct.
While Carter did try, which is better than anything Obama did in Libya, Carters incompetence and neglect of the military post Vietnam bit him in the butt when he tried to micro-manage what we did have at hand, like cutting the number of aircraft available for the mission.
I’m just trying to figure what we could do with the drone. Persia is amazing at tying up the hands of their enemies and creating a serious divisive response. I wonder if somehow portions of Sun Tzu’s art of War might have been early conflicts with Persia( Elam).
If we actually retaliate ending up in a shooting war( Yemen is hot as is Syria) it spreads our soldiers and navy thin. If we do nothing Iran just keeps playing with the dragons tail. It would be best to have other countries most affected by this. Our history since 1979 has been pretty brutal with war in Lebanon, Iran/Iraq( playing both sides?) the Oil Tanker war, then all the mines and weapons since the Gulf war through 9/11 to Soetero’s pallets of money( Iran is a thorn no matter what we do) just doesn’t stop these people.
Not a tactician but if I could I’d avoid it.