“…in November 1979…Iranian militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seizing control of the building and taking sixty-six Americans hostage. By the spring of 1980, with fifty-two hostages remaining in the embassy, the [Carter] administration had developed a top secret rescue plan. The mission was launched during the early evening of April 24 [1980]… By the next morning in Washington…it was clear that the operation had been an unmitigated disaster. Not only had it failed to achieve its goal; it had resulted in the deaths of eight American servicemen and the loss of seven of the eight helicopters deployed and a C-130 transport aircraft.”
– Karen DeYoung, Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, Page 121