Thirty years ago, the leader of the Kurds ruminated on the possibility of his region becoming the 51th state. If the US had exerted more influence in the mid 70s so that the Kurds were better armed in North Iraq and prevented Iran (then a close US ally) from falling to the Islamic fundamentalists, Saddam would have been better contained and the Soviets would have thought twice about invading Afghanistan.
One thing for sure, it would have driven radical Islamists crazy to have Kurdistan become the 51th state.
We were far too worried about communism at that time. So we aided in the replacement of pro-American governments like the Shah of Iran, for Islamists hoping that it'd destroy communism, not even thinking of the consequences.
It's 2003--and we done SCREWED UP!