I've always wondered how the last two decades might have turned out differently if Carter had announced that the full force of the American military would be used to invade Iran if the hostages were not released in the next 24 hours.
I don't mean a misbegotten long-distance helicopter raid, but an explicit announcement that a large expeditionary force would be coming, regardless of any threats to harm the hostages. It would be an Israeli-fashion operation, with explicit acknowledgement that all the hostages risked being killed-- in which case Tehran and the oil fields and the sea ports would be laid waste, and the officials responsible would face a firing squad.
Probably the one thing that kept Carter from doing so, other than his own milquetoast personality, was the Russian menace. But I really wonder if thousands of lives might not have been saved since then if Carter had taken the podium of the U.N. to announce that this was what we intended to do, and that we would use all necessary means up to and including nuclear war to see that our national will was carried out.
The Arab and Islamic world respects only naked brute force and our current involvement is long past due. I am afraid we will have to keep a boot on their throat for decades to come, perhaps even quarantining all travel to or from the area, if we want peace. So be it.
-ccm
Funny, I've often wondered that myself. But then, he wouldn't have been Jimmy Carter, would he.