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I saw what the Shah had in vision for his country. The allowing of women to wear their hair uncovered, girl scouts, hospitals, real highways and the ability to kick Iraq's ass in 3 days. I was a contractor in Iran supporting the Shah's IIAF F-14 program. Lost many friends and acquaintances during the revolution due to their loyalty to the Shah and their subsequent executions.

I’m very sorry to hear that. I understand what you’re talking about.

That was before Iran started to look weak in the eyes of Hussein, who eventually attacked.

Carter had us in a position at that point, where we couldn’t win no matter what we did. If Iran or Iraq won, either could have dominated the Middle-East, and we certainly didn’t want a strong anti-US Islamic government doing that.

Then the left faulted us for trying to make the war end in a dead heat. They destabilize, then blame us for trying to deal with things so that the worst case scenario won’t take place.

The Vietnam/Iranian/Iraqi/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Israeli problem with allies, is who can trust us if we continue to sell folks out? Right now Obama is bringing that to the European theater as well, dissing our allies there too.

I honestly think the Europeans must be gasping for breath, perhaps realizing their dreams of a neutered U.S. just might come true. Then who will defend them while they nip at their heels?

Europe is in big trouble if Obama take measures to strengthen the Middle-East trouble makers. And it looks as if he may just do that.

There is no doubt that the Shah placed women in power in his cabinet and there were more women in the Iranian parliament than were in the US Congress. However, the Shah's "Western ways," contributed to his downfall as many fundamentalists were against these liberalizations. And the Shah's White Revolution angered the mullahs because it took away some of their lands and gave women the right to vote.

That said, the Shah was no saint. There was widespread corruption and much of the oil wealth was not shared with the people. And Savak's brutality was well-known. Still, Iran was far better off under the Shah than the mullahs. And US interests were better served with the Shah in power than Khomeini who began the modern militant Islamic fundamentalist movement and created the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism. We are reaping the results now from one of the biggest foreign policy blunders in our history. Jimmy Carter was a disaster.