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Since leaving the White House some 30 years ago, former President Jimmy Carter has, for the most part, steered clear of controversy. He's won a fair amount of attention for building houses with Habitat for Humanity, and for the occasional foray into post-presidential diplomacy. (He recently traveled to North Korea to secure the release of an imprisoned American.) And he drew some headlines for publishing a harshly critical book about Israeli policy toward the Palestinians. But on balance, Carter has maintained a relatively quiet life out of office.

Thirty years ago this week, James Earl Carter went before the nation to give a speech that would mark the beginning of the end of his presidency. The night before his speech, Carter gave the "green light" to the Iranian hostage rescue mission--Eagle Claw--that ended in disaster at Desert One. Eight U.S. servicemen died at the site and had to be left behind. At the time, it was by far the worst humiliation the U.S. had ever suffered, and it cost Carter his reelection bid later that year. Ronald Reagan won in a landslide. An investigation into Operation Eagle Claw...

by Mark Finkelstein August 18, 2006 - 07:42 If not quite from the grave, the decision by one of Jimmy Carter's judicial appointees, striking down the NSA terrorist surveillance program, was an unwelcome blast from past. Call it Carter's Revenge. Malaise Redux. The spirit of Desert One lives. That this was a political decision more than a legal one is evidenced by the intemperate language of the decision itself: "“There are no hereditary kings in America," harumphed Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the United States District Court in Detroit, in a case filed by the ACLU. Naturally, the NY Times...

We Need Fewer Secrets By Jimmy Carter Monday, July 3, 2006; A21 The U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) turns 40 tomorrow, the day we celebrate our independence. But this anniversary will not be a day of celebration for the right to information in our country. Our government leaders have become increasingly obsessed with secrecy. Obstructionist policies and deficient practices have ensured that many important public documents and official actions remain hidden from our view. The events in our nation today -- war, civil rights violations, spiraling energy costs, campaign finance and lobbyist scandals -- dictate the growing need and...

I began studying Iran in 1979 as a 21-year-old Marine sergeant and Recon (Recon is the Corps’ version of Navy SEALs and Army Rangers and Green Berets) team leader with "A" Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion. My studies began because terrorists in Iran had just overthrown Shah Reza Mohammed Pahlavi, sacked the United States Embassy in Tehran and taken dozens of Americans hostage. A few months later, my unit, the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, was in Thailand when our mission was changed and we headed up through the tanker- and cargo-ship-packed Straits of Malacca (I...

WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 11, 1980, NOON The meeting began with Jimmy Carter's announcement: “Gentlemen, I want you to know that I am seriously considering an attempt to rescue the hostages.” Hamilton Jordan, the White House chief of staff, knew immediately that the president had made a decision. Planning and practice for a rescue mission had been going on in secret for five months, but it had always been regarded as the last resort, and ever since the November 4 embassy takeover, the White House had made every effort to avoid it. As the president launched into a list of detailed...

AMERICANS will certainly have 9/11 in mind when they vote today. But they should keep another date in mind, too — one almost exactly a quarter-century ago: Nov. 4, 1979. A clear path runs to 9/11 from the day of the raid on the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the seizure of American hostages. The 1979 embassy attack came at a time when the administration of President Jimmy Carter was trying to prop up the new Khomeinist regime in Tehran. Carter had decided to support Khomeini in the context of the so-called "Green Belt" strategy developed by National Security...

The World According to J.C. "Tedious" doesn't begin to describe the new book by America's worst ex-president. BY BRET STEPHENS Jimmy Carter's 20th book is a tedious meditation about the appropriate uses of moral values in political life--as wisely and humbly exemplified by Himself--and of their misuses under the current Bush administration. But tedious isn't quite the right word here, because it suggests mere boredom while Mr. Carter's prose manages to be irritating as well. Is there an English-language equivalent to the German Rechthaberei, which loosely translates as the state of thinking and behaving as if you're in the right...

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2005 – America today honored eight American servicemen who died trying to rescue American hostages in Iran 25 years ago. A ceremony here, on the 25th anniversary of their deaths, brought together the families of those killed, their comrades and those servicemembers who carry on the special operations mission. In November 1979 Iranian militants took 53 Americans in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran hostage. It was the most egregious violation of the principles of diplomacy in the history of statecraft, L. Bruce Laingen, the highest-ranking American taken hostage, said at today's ceremony. On April 25, 1980, the...

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2005 – America today honored eight American servicemen who died trying to rescue American hostages in Iran 25 years ago. A ceremony here, on the 25th anniversary of their deaths, brought together the families of those killed, their comrades and those servicemembers who carry on the special operations mission. In November 1'7' Iranian militants took 53 Americans in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran hostage. It was the most egregious violation of the principles of diplomacy in the history of statecraft, L. Bruce Laingen, the highest-ranking American taken hostage, said at today's ceremony. On April 25, 1'80, the...

America today honored eight American servicemen who died trying to rescue American hostages in Iran 25 years ago. A ceremony here, on the 25th anniversary of their deaths, brought together the families of those killed, their comrades and those servicemembers who carry on the special operations mission. In November 1979 Iranian militants took 53 Americans in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran hostage. It was the most egregious violation of the principles of diplomacy in the history of statecraft, L. Bruce Laingen, the highest-ranking American taken hostage, said at today’s ceremony. On April 25, 1980, the rescue attempt, dubbed "Operation Eagle...

Iranian soldiers survey the wreckage of the aborted US military attempt to rescue hostages in the US Embassy in Tehran. Eight American servicemen died in a disastrous accident as the rescue forces pulled back from the mission. By Otto Kreisher For some, the current political debate over the combat readiness of today's American military stirs memories of a long-ago event that, more than anything else, came to symbolize the disastrously "hollow" forces of the post-Vietnam era. It began in the evening of April 24, 1980, when a supposedly elite US military force launched a bold but doomed attempt to ...

A desperate mission to rescue 53 American hostages from Iran ended in failure and the deaths of eight servicemen, but it is being remembered 25 years later as a turning point for U.S. special operations forces that eventually led to successes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and elsewhere. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force veterans of Operation Eagle Claw, families of those who lost their lives and a support group are gathering this weekend for an anniversary reunion and remembrance in the Florida Panhandle. Mere failure turned into fiery disaster when a helicopter collided with a transport plane at...

CARTER'S REMARKS TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, BOSTON Mon Jul 26 2004 19:45:57 ET My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm not running for president. But here's what I will be doing: everything I can to put John Kerry in the White House with John Edwards right there beside him. Twenty-eight years ago I was running for president, and I said then, "I want a government as good and as honest and as decent and as competent and as compassionate as are the American people." I say this again tonight, and that is exactly what we will have next January...

In 1980, I was one of the Marines off Iran for the Hostage Rescue Attempt. Today is the 24th anniversay of the attempt. I made a website dedicated to the Rescue Attempt and what is posted here is from that site. The stories below are personal stories of those at Desert One. Let us always remember the men who died that day.

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Dear Lord, There's a young man far from home, called to serve his nation in time of war; sent to defend our freedom on some distant foreign shore. We pray You keep him safe, we pray You keep him strong, we pray You send him safely home ... for he's been away so long. There's a young woman far from home, serving her nation with pride. Her step is strong, her step is sure, there is courage in every stride. We pray You keep her safe, we pray You keep her strong, we pray You send her safely home...