In 1981 the war on terror was still in its infancy. Americans had been held hostage in Iran for 444 days from November 1979 until January 1981. The attempt to rescue them had ended in embarrassing failure for the United States Military. The new administration had decided that we would not be put in that situation again. The twenty four hour news cycle was beginning to drive the actions of people and groups shouting for attention. These groups were learning to manipulate the media for their own ends. During this period in history there were many events that "officially" never occurred. Operation Sand Trap was one of these.