Howard Hart remembers the rescue of the Los Banos internment camp [Annotator’s Note: The Raid on Los Baños in the Philippines on 23 February 1945 was executed by a US Army Airborne and Filipino guerrilla task force, liberating more than 2,000 internees from the Japanese internment camp]. Los Banos was one of the most complicated rescue missions. Hart had to go to the American embassy in Iran to make a rescue. This was similar to Los Banos because the Americans had to be in charge of the local guerrilla group. While they were heading in towards Los Banos, there were paratroopers jumping from C-47s [Annotator’s Note: The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota]. The guys in amtracks [Annotator's Note: Landing Vehicle, Tracked or LVT; also referred to as amtrack or alligator] were traveling in complete darkness using a hand compass. The guerrillas had to attack the camp as the paratroopers jumped and the amtracks made it across the lagoon. Then they had to get the internees packed up and out of the camp. This required a lot of intelligence. All of this was replicated in the Iran rescue. Everyone in Los Banos had to get out on the amtracks together and out of sight. One internee made it out of the camp and got in touch with the American soldiers. He was able to tell the men where all the guards and the pillboxes were [Annotator’s Note: A pillbox is a type of blockhouse, or concrete dug-in guard-post, normally equipped with loopholes through which defenders can fire weapons]. He was able to tell them what the guards would be doing at what times. Hart studied the Los Banos rescue in complete detail.

Howard Hart used all the fundamentals of the Los Banos raid [Annotator’s Note: The Raid on Los Baños in the Philippines, 23 February 1945, liberating more than 2,000 Allied civilian and military internees from a Japanese internment camp] in the Iran hostage rescue [Annotator’s Note: Operation Eagle Claw, a failed attempt by US forces to rescue US embassy staff held captive in Tehran, Iran on 24 April 1980]. They agreed they could not go forward because they did not have helicopters that worked. Flying helicopters in the desert cause a sandstorm. One helicopter flew into the tankers. The Iranians dragged the dead bodies of the Air Force people around the embassy yard. Hart was a newly promoted senior officer for the Pentagon which was the equivalent of a colonel. He worked for intelligence in the CIA [Annotator’s Note: Central Intelligence Agency]. Hart was in Iran for three years and knew the compound. [Annotator’s Note: Hart describes the opposition they would face in Iran].

Howard Hart had complete command over the CIA [Annotator’s Note: Central Intelligence Agency] personnel on the ground [Annotator’s Note: during Operation Eagle Claw, a US operation attempting to rescue United States embassy staff held captive in Tehran, Iran on 24 April 1980], but not the Delta people. They had several helicopters. This was a volunteer job. It was a job to be done. The Delta troops were prepared to give their lives to get the American hostages back from the Iranians. Hart’s family returned to the Philippines after World War Two. Many of them had been in internment camps. The Americans that were told to give up went into the mountains and started guerrilla units. MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] turned on support for the guerrilla units from Australia. Growing up, Hart listened to these men talk about being in charge of guerrilla fighters. As guerrillas, they did not try to hold territory. When setting up the Afghan war, they would capture land back, but would not announce they regained it. They had to teach the Afghans rules of engagement. [Annotator’s Note: Hart describes the Afghan's movements.] Another lesson from the Philippines was to get their trucks and catch the Russians while they were moving. They should have written a manual on how to fight a guerrilla war.

Howard Hart had no problems invading Afghanistan to get rid of the Taliban [Annotator’s Note: The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pashtun nationalist political movement in Afghanistan]. To stay was stupid. He thinks once they leave, the Taliban will take over once again. Hart retired in 1991. There was no Al-Qaeda [Annotator’s Note: an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists] when he was in Afghanistan. They were shocked by the events of 9/11 [Annotator’s Note: The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001]. Hart believes the CIA [Annotator’s Note: Central Intelligence Agency] has changed a lot since he left. They do not recruit the same young people they used to. There is no longer a mindset of service. [Annotator’s Note: Hart describes the people who are now joining the CIA.] Hart likes the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] and thinks it needs to be teaching more about the war because he does not know what is going on with the museum's teaching programs. The wars of the 20th century need to be a huge focus in high school classrooms because young people do not know or understand what those wars changed. Americans need to understand the progression of the weapons used in the United States.