When ‘Dirty Harry’ rescued real-life hostages
In a hundred years of film anti-heroes, San Francisco police detective Harry Callahan perhaps stands alone as a character clothed in coolness and moxie. So enamored are fans of the…
How the Iran Hostage Crisis changed the pistachio industry
The younger crowds may not remember a time when eating a bag of pistachios meant dealing with your fingertips and lips being dyed red for a short time afterward. This…
Israeli wrestlers were the heroes of the 1972 Munich Massacre
There’s not much good that came from the hostage crisis that struck the 1972 Munich Olympics. By the end of the standoff, 11 Israeli hostages were dead, along with 5…
This is the story behind the failed hostage rescue in Iran
On the night of April 1, 1980, two CIA officers flew Major John T. Carney Jr., a U.S. Air Force Combat Controller, to a small strip of road in the South Khorasan Province, Iran.
This location would live in special operations infamy foreve…
Why Americans are twice as likely to die in hostage situations
While the United States was celebrating its 100th birthday on July 4, 1976, four Israeli C-130 cargo planes landed at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, cargo bay doors already open. A black Mercedes and a parade of Land Rovers screamed out of two of the pl…
This Green Beret whistleblower risked his career to change US hostage policy
In 2001, Lt. Col. Jason Amerine was one of the first U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan to avenge the 9/11 attacks. He is a Green Beret, the U.S. Army’s elite special forces with five primary…
Here’s how the French special forces hostage rescue operation unfolded
Two French commandos were killed during a night operation to rescue two hostages in the west African country of Burkina Faso on May 10, 2019.
The two petty officers, Cédric de Pierrepont, 32, and Alain Bertoncello, 27, were confirmed to have …
NATO chief demands that Russia release Ukrainian sailors
The head of NATO has demanded that Russia release Ukrainian sailors and naval vessels it seized in a confrontation at sea, while Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says concerns that Moscow could seek to create a “land corridor” linking…
Kabul says it’s freed 149 hostages from Taliban
The Taliban has reportedly rejected an offer by the Afghan government for a cease-fire, with militant commanders vowing to carry on their attacks after Taliban fighters in the north seized nearly 200 hostages from a convoy of passenger buses.
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