Posted on 06/16/2016 7:40:07 AM PDT by freedom44
Prior to the late 20th century, the venerable civilization of Iran had virtually always existed under a monarchic government. This was a long tradition of the Iranian people, stretching all the back to Cyrus the Great. That all changed in 1979, when, after thousands of years of monarchy, the King (called the Shah) of Iran was overthrown, and a powerful Islamic cleric called Ruhollah Khomeini rose to the new position of Ayatollah (supreme leader). That much is settled history. What has not been so clear since the Islamic Revolution, however, were the specific feelings and actions of then-US President Jimmy Carter concerning the power shift. To be sure, Carter was not a consistent friend of the Shah - despite the fact that the Iranian royalty certainly had been friendly and amenable to the US and its interests throughout the 20th century. Carter openly criticized the Shah over exaggerated and overblown "human rights abuses" related to heavy-handed tactics the ruler occasionally used to keep order in his country. And there has always been talk that, leading up to the Revolution itself, the US President ordered the CIA to politically undermine the Shah and encourage the rise of the Ayatollah. Carter and his administration have denied this, saying they supported the Iranian monarchy.
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Alexandre de Marenches, the head of the French intelligence service at the time, thought so.
He told the Shah that Carter was working to undermine him, but the Shah wouldn't believe it.
The Shah never saw it coming.. In an interview from his place of exile, shortly before his death, he said his first inkling came during a meeting of Middle-East leaders over oil pricing when he found he was the only person in the room. Everyone else knew he had been marked by Carter for a coup.
The Shah was no saint, but he was at least trying to pull the country out of its 7th century mindset.
And he was leagues better than anyone over there at the time and after.
We stabbed him in the back, plain and simple. Carter should rot in Hell for that, and all the damage his actions have caused since then.
Carter didn’t like the Shah. There are a couple of stories:
One is that his security advisor Brzezinski believed that the way to take down the Soviets was to use Islam, and the key to that was an Islamist Iran. From there they could pry the soviet muslim territories away and bring down The Soviet Union. We did in fact pursue that policy and that explains some of our dealings with Iraq and for that matter with an early Bin Ladin.
The second story is that Carter demanded as a condition of his support for the Shah that his people be cut in on a large multi-billion dollar project. When the Shah refused (he couldn’t believe a man like Carter could actually be demanding a bribe) his fate was sealed.
In any case, Brzezinski met with the Shah’s top generals and asked them to remain passive in the face of Khomeini’s rise to power. They did, and they were all subsequently executed by Khomeini. The Shah, who had been our closest ally in the middle east for decades, died on the run, finally taken in by Sadat as he was dying of cancer.
Carter is the one who brought down the Shah. Khomeini is his legacy.
‘The second story is that Carter demanded as a condition of his support for the Shah that his people be cut in on a large multi-billion dollar project’
Not buying that one. Carter is/was a fool but money isn’t his focus.
For all his pious pouting, I fear that Jimmy Carter will be begging his saintly brother Billy for a beer to quench his thirst after he dies.
Imagine the world today if Carter:
Supported the Shahid
Ignored Afghanistan
Bandar Mahshahr. Ten percent management fee given to his inner circle. I’ll see if I could find the links. It has gone around FR a few times.
Carter Center was hired by Hugo Chavez to certify their elections. Despite widespread reports of vote theft, Jimmy pronounced the elections free and fair within minutes of the polls closing, despite the fact that neither he nor any of his people were allowed into the election command center.
They found boxes of ballots at the city dump, and the software company that programmed the machines was owned by the government, but Carter didn’t bat an eye. He did, however, accuse Bush of stealing his election from Caracas.
So I have believed since then that Carter was for sale.
And Sadat was eventually assassinated after getting involved with Carter and Begin. Sadat was succeeded by Mubarak, until Mubarak was overthrown by Obama.
What is it with these Middle East rulers and our Democrat Presidents?
-PJ
Biggest foreign policy mistake of the late 20th Century. We should have backed him to the hilt and fed the Saudis to the wolves.
Imperial Iran wouldn’t have spent billions exporting jihadi Islam around the world. He was a loyal ally too, unlike the backstabbing Saudis.
Carter was one of the best educated and yet dumbest Presidents of all time, Likely the second worst president ever.
Yeah and the hildabeast Kadaffi!
Carter is a venal and vile little man who most certainly did do that to help his friends. He uses his ‘Christianity’ as a stick with which to beat down opposition. Jesus pointed out that we are to know people by their fruit. Carter’s is rotten to the core and stinks to high heaven.
Let’s see, I rank them
5. Wilson
4. LBJ
3. Carter
2. Hussein
1. FDR
Why FDR, you ask? If not for the rot that crept into the government during his administration, we might not have had 4, 3, and 2.
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