US News Metro Long Island Politics

Sports NFL MLB Olympics NBA NHL College Football College Basketball WNBA

Business Personal Finance

Entertainment TV Movies Music Celebrities Awards Theater

Lifestyle Weird But True Sex & Relationships Viral Trends Human Interest Parenting Fashion & Beauty Food & Drink Travel

Health Wellness Fitness Health Care Medicine Men’s Health Women’s Health Mental Health Nutrition

Science Space Environment Wildlife Archaeology

Today’s Paper Covers Columnists Horoscopes Crosswords & Games Sports Odds Podcasts Careers

Email Newsletters Official Store Home Delivery Tips

Switch between CA and NY editions here.

Michael Goodwin: Trump’s Iran approach a stark reminder of how hapless Jimmy Carter butchered saving US hostages in Tehran

Photographs showing shattered aircraft debris in the Iranian desert after last week’s stunning rescue of two American airmen reminded me of similar photos from the Jimmy Carter era.

But the similarities are only superficial. Indeed, the vastly different outcomes of Carter’s disastrous 1979 bid to free American hostages held in Tehran and the extraordinary rescue of the downed airmen last week under Donald Trump couldn’t be greater.

Although both are, in their own ways, symbolic of the two presidents, the stories the photos tell are polar opposites.

Carter’s botched effort to rescue the embassy hostages led to the deaths of eight American service members. Because only five of eight helicopters dispatched to a desert staging point were capable of carrying out the mission, it was aborted.

But as the copters tried to return to their base, one crashed into a transport plane loaded with fuel, an accident that claimed the lives of the eight service members.

More From Michael Goodwin

Michael Goodwin: Democrats are revving up to raid New Yorkers pockets for freebies

Michael Goodwin: The bigotry against Israel is the latest political agenda conspired by Democrats

Michael Goodwin: Trump Derangement Syndrome continues to fuel the left’s dangerous and misleading agenda

The disaster reflected Carter’s hapless presidency, especially his craven dealings with Iran and other foreign powers. His fatal flaw was that he tried to make weakness a virtue.

By contrast, the vast rescue operation last week under President Trump was a stunning success from a revitalized and emboldened military, an “Easter miracle,” as the president dubbed it.

The differences in their presidencies are most striking when it comes to their approaches to the Islamist autocrats in Iran, but it is also expressed in their personalities and virtually every aspect of their tenures.

Carter, a pious peanut farmer and a former governor of........

© New York Post