Unfortunately, Operation Eagle Claw failed, as did Carter's presidency because of it.

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But he believed that some of the American prisoners might die in an attack, and that even if the mission, called Eagle Claw, were successful it would disturb an already unstable region.

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Eagle Claw never got near the prisoners.

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Gates reminded his colleagues that he had been in the Situation Room of the Carter White House when military officials presented Eagle Claw the 1980 Delta Force operation that aimed at rescuing American hostages in Tehran but resulted in a disastrous collision in the Iranian desert, killing eight American soldiers.

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In June he appeared at a Democratic governors' meeting in Chicago accompanied by a presidential-looking seal an eagle clutching an olive branch in one claw and arrows in the other and emblazoned with the slogan Vero Possimus (Yes we can).

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South African Tim Clark hit a final-hole eagle as he and Fiji's Vijay Singh defeated Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink to claw back vital points for the international team.

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