16th April 1980 - The Situation Room, White HouseGenerals Jones, Gast and Vaught sat at the large wooden conference table in the small dark room in the middle of the Special Situation complex. Opposite them sat the US President, Jimmy Carter, Vice President Mondale, Cyrus Vance, Warren Christopher and a team of presidential advisers.
The meeting had started at 6.30pm. The military men were dressed in “normal” clothes to avoid raising suspicions as they arrived at the White House. Colonel Charlie Beckwith, leader and indeed founder, of the US Army’s special operations team – Delta Force – was briefing those assembled on the planned operation to enter Teheran and rescue the fifty-three US hostages. A great deal of work had gone into the planning. A Joint Task Force had been working on it si
