crisis brought a startling and tragic turn of events. the united states mounted a military operation into iran last night to rescue the american hostages. but it failed. >> eight helicopters took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier "nimitz." the eight helicopters headed to a desert staging area 200 miles southeast of tehran. >> two of the helicopters experienced problems en route. >> but once on the ground, yet another helicopter malfunctioned, leaving only five for the mission. at that moment, the president scrubbed the mission. >> in the rush to pull out, one >> in the rush to pull out, one of the helicopters taxied into a c-130 fuel tanker. both burst into flames. >> eight of our men were killed. four others suffered burns. the bodies of the dead have not yet been returned. >> the ayatollah seemed to enjoy stage managing in this grisly theater as the bodies were shown. the soldiers, obviously, took no