Carter's failed foreign policy in Iran  
By Winston @ The Spirit of Man
Jul 20, 2007, 19:18

Carter's Foreign Policy, a Gift That Keeps on Giving Iran & Terrorism

We just don't get it. The Left in America is screaming to high heaven that the mess we are in, in Iraq and the war on terrorism has been caused by the right-wing and that George W. Bush, the so-called "dim-witted cowboy," has created the entire mess. The truth is the entire nightmare can be traced back to the liberal democratic policies of the leftist Jimmy Carter, who created a firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the shah of Iran , in favor of a religious fanatic, the ayatollah Khomeini.

President Jimmy Carter was elected as the 39th President of the United States during the time when the American people were confused and felt betrayed by President Nixon's Watergate scandal and the political failure of the Vietnam War. Carter did sound like a reasonable man at a time when America was in her darkest hour and people thought this man of moral conviction could lead them through their national nightmares. He narrowly defeated President Gerald Ford. But it all turned out to be a disaster for both the United States and the world as a whole.

Jimmy Carter was unsuccessful in doing what he promised to deliver and his lack of experience in foreign policy and national politics resulted in a disastrous political defeat for his party and himself in 1980. And for almost 12 years, the Democratic Party was forced to stay away from the White House since many didnot trust the Democrats to run the foreign policy of the US any more. Not until 1993 when Bill Clinton took over and ran the country for another eight years with more or less the same results. Democrats have shown that they are basically inexperienced in matters of foreign policy. When Jimmy Carter entered the political fray in 1976, America was still riding the liberal wave of anti-Vietnam War emotions and numerous mistakes made during the Nixon presidency.

It all became official when Jimmy Carter delivered his Inaugural Speech on 20th of Jan, 1977 and said: "Our moral sense dictates a clear-cut preference for these societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well being of all people."

Nonetheless his pro Human Rights campaign shocked the foundations of many American allies including the late Shah of Iran who was running an ancient country with cultural and historical complications that needed time to be corrected. Carter was unable to understand these issues. What happened in Iran in the late 70's and the resulting revolution/takeover of islamic extremists is a complex issue. It is a culmination of many variables including social, political, cultural, religious, economic and strategic, both domestically ( Iran ) and internationally ( USA and European).

The late Shah of Iran was authoritarian, but not a tyrant. He was not an Idi Amin, Saddam, Pinochet or Khomeini and his thugs, absolutely not. He was a patriot and seen as one among many Iranians and a true one at that, for things he did to upgrade the lives of ordinary Iranians and modernizing the country he inherited. His secret police SAVAK was no worse than any other intelligence agency (including some current western ones) and corruption has never been unique to the Iranians and the cronies of the Shah's court. These social and mostly political problems were not genuin e excuses for a revolution like that of Iran in 1978-79 period.

Indeed the late Shah of Iran made some notable mistakes and a few grave ones. In my opinion, he should have been more aware and in tune with the needs of his people rather than being so single minded in implementing his vision for a secular and modern Iran . I think, partly, it was a vision being implemented too quickly and not aligned with the cultural and social maturity of the Iranian population. His Majesty the late Shah of Iran once said that the single unifying point for Iran was "the King, the Monarch". That holds true but, equally, the other unifying point, certainly at that time for Iran , was "RELIGION" i.e. Shiite Islam. Perhaps, not among a few educated, westernized Iranians, but certainly for the majority of average people there. Progress is a great thing provided your average population mindset can keep up with it.

The Shah was weakened by President Carte r's human rights campaign. The Carter administration totally ignored the facts of the country they were dealing with. President Jimmy Carter was a weak man led by his liberal views and emotions. His mistakes were much graver than the Shah's .The main difference is that Carter's mistakes affected the world (as we witness now) more intensely than the Shah's. Carter's actions gave birth to what we call Islamic Fundamentalism. The alliance of the Reds (Communists) and Blacks (Islamists) contributed to the Shah's downfall. All emboldened by one single factor which was President Carter's absolute ignorance of the problems on the ground. His mishandling of the Iranian revolution and back-stabbing of the Persian monarch emoboldened the Soviets to invade Afghanistan.and also sent confusing signals to other US allies in the world. He should have known at the time that the soviets were intimately and actively involved, in getting rid of the Shah. It's hard to believe that he didn't know and n ot only allowed it to happen, but enabled it so that he could get rid of the Shah and replace him with this religious man, Khomeini.

The invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union in 1979 caused the US to rush to contain the threat of Communism in South and Central Asia again, therefore aided and directed by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan 's intelligence services, the US had to fund the Mujahedeen for ten bloody years. These foreign fighters later, empowered by the defeat of the Soviet Union , the evil empire- decided to bite the hand that fed them for the most part of the 1980s. The lack of resolve in handling of the Iranian revolution and the US Embassy Hostage Crisis gave the green lights to other Jihadist groups around the world that if US is attacked, it won't fight back. We saw the similar incidents happening through out the 1980s until 2001 - A few of them are the US Marines. Barracks bombing by the Iranian backed Lebanese Hezballah in 1983 , 1993 attack on WTC in New York City to attacks on the USS Cole in 2000 and finally the September 11th tragedy. The mistakes made during the 1979 still haunt us until today.

One of the many things Carter's administration was unable to comprehend was the fact that the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-1980 had almost nothing to do with the so-called 1953 coup against Prime Minister Mossadeq. The argument the Iranians made at the time was historically misguiding. Mossadeq was not elected by popular vote. Indeed he was appointed to run the cabinet by the Shah and when he was asked to step down, he refused. Therefore Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, had to have the military to remove the very man he had appointed to premiership a few years ago. Most importantly, due to oil embargo imposed on Mossadeq's government after his noble campaign to nationalize Iranian oil and ousting the British, he started getting close r to the Soviet Union and it made the US and especially UK - wounded by the nationlizing of oil in Iran - to scramble a coup against the rogue PM Mossadeq and restore the order in the most vital part of the middle-east.

This was the basic argument for the ayatollahs during the hostage crisis of 1979 and was the Iranians grievance, but the truth was that it only misguided the naive western audience including president Carter who didn't like the previous US foreign interventions around the world including those which were made by the Republican presidents. Iranian coup of 1953 had the backing of Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower and UK 's Winston Churchill.

However, Khomeini by taking the US embassy staff as hostages and keeping them for 444 long days was up to an ugly game: Eradicating those who were secular and/or liberals that his regime didn't like, including Prime Minister Bazargan, Qotbzadeh and other nationalist and secular forces who once were his allies.and truly helped him in his quest to rise to power.

Mr. Carter couldn't understand that by playing the "Diplomacy Game" with the mullahs, he was paying a higher price for the US national and international interests. His diplomatic gesture were seen as signs of American weakeness and demise. And Islamic terrorists spiritually, and I'd say politically and financially, emboldened by the late ayatollah Khomeini's revolution learned the fact that they can hit the Great Satan and other western powers without the fear of backlash. No one is going to punish them for their wrong doings. The weakness of the United States through out Carter's presidency resulted in great tragedies.

Jimmy Carter's belief that every crisis can be resolved with diplomacy - and nothing but diplomacy - has had many catastrophic results. What we encounter today as I slamic Terrorism mostly backed by the current Iranian regime is one of the few gifts of the failed Carter's foreign policy. Had he shown resolve in dealing with the 1979 revolution and the US embassy hostage crisis, we would not be in this mess we are today. Diplomacy is a great tool to enforce your policies, if it is correctly backed by other tools of foreign policy including military might and economic incentive and disincentives. Jimmy Carter didn't apply these tools properly in order to handle many crises he faced during his 4 year presidency.

President Carter failed and his failure still haunts us.

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_22193.shtml