[Alberta's Child]

Carter may have been the worst president this country ever had, but I also think he gets an unfair rap on some key issues. Iran is one of them. Our current problems with Iran didn't begin in 1979, but all the way back in 1953 when the Eisenhower administration helped the British topple the duly-elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh and install the Shah as a puppet government. The Iranian uprising in 1979 was pretty much a natural backlash against the excesses of the Shah's regime, and the U.S. really has nobody to blame but ourselves for what has transpired in the old Persian empire over the last 50 years.

[ridesthemiles]

install the Shah as a puppet government""

Say what you want about the Shah of Iran, but:

He kept numerous tribes in line, for better or worse.

He was building schools and educating Iran--both boys and girls- and realized they needed education to deal with the whole world, not just their tribal areas.

Iran was on track to have a modern, educated work force until Carter stepped in and destroyed the Shah's chances to bring this to fruition.

Today, Iran is years behind the rest of the world, and instead of just isolating themselves and living in the 7th century, they are trying to force the rest of us into the same century.

I will NEVER be able to say anything kind about Carter. I would slap him silly if he ever showed up near my property.
It is beyond my comprehension that a man who could barely be successful growing peanuts could be voted President. He was beyond naive. I don't know a proper word for it, but he is now well into the territory of treasonous, IMO.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

The situation with Mossadegh was more complicated than you present. Mossadegh went off on the deep end and deserved what happened to him.

Agreed, the Shah's excesses brought about much of the backlash. However, what ticked off the religious nuts was that he was trying to westernize the country. He may have gone a bit too fast for many Iranians. However, the Shah's regime was not beyond repair.

I disagree that we deserve what we got from Iran. It was during the Cold War and the Soviets had occupied part of Iran after WWII. The left loves to bash the CIA for overturning Allende in Chile and putting Pinochet in power. Pinochet also had excesses, but in retrospect, Allende was a milder form of Hugo Chavez and Pinochet led the country into a free market economy that is the best in Latin America.

[RobbyS]

It goes back further than that. Remember the trouble with Russian troops in Iran after WWII. Mossadegh was open to an alliance with the Soviet Union. The connection between Moscow and Teheran is the reason why Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power. Evidently, Russia is trying to revive the cold war, not only here but by reviving an alliance with the Chinese.