Posted on 11/06/2004 7:25:35 PM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
LONDON (IRNA) -- Former National Security Adviser to the Carter Administration, Zbigniew Brzezinski, suggested Saturday that the U.S. should finally come to terms with the takeover of the American Embassy in Iran after 25 years.
It is time to start closing that chapter of "humiliation" that Americans felt so strongly about instead of remaining haunted by the memories, Brzezinski said.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he believed that there must eventually be "some accommodation" and that the west may even have to learn to live with Iran as a nuclear power as it did with China and later with India and Pakistan.
The aide, who served President Jimmy Carter during the takeover of the U.S. Embassy following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, was questioned on the differences between the U.S. and the European Union approach to Iran's nuclear program.
"There are people in this administration who would like to attack Iran. The neo-cons fall into this category," Brzezinski told the paper.
But he warned that the use of force will "unify" Iran.
Although hawks like the U.S. under-secretary for arms control, John Bolton, are tipped for promotion, the former National Security Advisor said that moderate Republicans do not expect a significant policy shift following President George W. Bush's re-election.
"I prefer to think the Bush administration is not determined to make a habit of shooting itself in the foot. Hopefully it learned from the miscalculations of its Iraq policy," he said.
Excellent idea. Detonate in place.
Sure, we'll come to terms with the hostage takeover. It's called the MOAB policy.
OK, Bush is responsible for Carters F@#&-UP 25 years ago
Zbig, crawl back into your hole and stay there ...
Why has this guy popped up all of a sudden, after all these years?
I don't mind if Iran has the bomb... so long as they understand that if a nuke goes off under mysterious circumstances in the US, that our first reaction will be to blow Iran to Kingdom Come.
why do journalists like to put microphones near the mouths of failures and treat their words like the gospel?
Well neo-liberal isn't working. Perhaps retro-liberal is the way to go.
You know, I'm about fed up with this "neo-con" thing. I'm not a neo-con, paleo-con or any other prefix-con: I'm just a con, thank you very much. It's the liberals who had to run as "new" and are ashamed of what they are.
And it's time Brzezinski comes to terms with the fact that 99% of America has already come to terms with it. Talk about flogging a dead horse.
Typical liberal responibilty denial.
"Time the U.S. came to terms with 'humiliation' in Iran"
We would, but unfortunately, jimmy (da commie loving bastard nut) carter is STILL alive and reminding TRUE Americans of the SHAME he brought down on our military and our country.
Ya, Zbig it was just a ***nuisance***, kinda like Leon Klinghoffer. No biggie! None taken..
Because they know something is up.
Ending the Iranian Mullah regime would be a historical burn on guys like Brezinski. This is a pre-emptive strike to rally the "peaceies" to oppose any action toward Iran.
..Yawn.. Just another pathetic Carter retread trying to assuage his guilt for the series of foreign policy debacles he oversaw. The rest of us have long since come to terms with and put the Carter presidency way behind us, Zbiggy.
AMERICA CAN'T DO A THING'
By AMIR TAHERI
November 2, 2004 -- AMERICANS will certainly have 9/11 in mind when they vote today. But they should keep another date in mind, too — one almost exactly a quarter-century ago: Nov. 4, 1979. A clear path runs to 9/11 from the day of the raid on the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the seizure of American hostages.The 1979 embassy attack came at a time when the administration of President Jimmy Carter was trying to prop up the new Khomeinist regime in Tehran.
Carter had decided to support Khomeini in the context of the so-called "Green Belt" strategy developed by National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. That strategy was based on the assumption that the United States and its allies were unable to contain the Soviet Union, then expanding its zone of influence into Africa, the Indian Ocean region and, through left-leaning regimes, in Latin America. To counter that expanding threat, Brzezinski envisaged the creation of a string of Islamic allies that, for religious and political reasons, would prefer the United States against the "godless" Soviet empire.
The second stage in Brzezinski's grand strategy was to incite the Muslim peoples of the Soviet Union to revolt against Moscow and thus frustrate its global schemes.
The Bzrezinski strategy had been partly inspired by Helene Carrere d'Encausse, who, in her book "The Fragmented Empire," predicted the disintegration of the Soviet Union as a result of revolts by Muslim minorities.
When the Islamic revolution started in Iran, the Carter administration saw it as the confirmation of its assumption that only Islamists could muster enough popular support to provide an alternative to both the existing regime and the pro-Soviet leftist movements.
The Carter administration went out of its way to support the new regime in Tehran. A ban imposed on the sale of arms and materiel to Iran, imposed in 1978, was lifted, and a 1954 presidential "finding" by Dwight Eisenhower was dusted off to reaffirm Washington's commitment to defending Iran against Soviet or other threats.
Also to symbolize support for the mullahs, President Carter initially rejected a visa application for the exiled shah to travel to New York for medical treatment.
Just weeks after the mullahs' regime was formed, Brzezinski traveled to Morocco to meet Mehdi Bazargan, Ayatollah Khomeini's first prime minister. At the meeting, Brzezinski invited the new Iranian regime to enter into a strategic partnership with the United States. Bazargan, concerned that the Iranian left might bid for power against the still wobbly regime of the mullahs, was "ecstatic" about the American offer.
The embassy raid came just days after the Brzezinski-Bazargan meeting in Morocco and, by all accounts, took Khomeini by surprise. It is now clear that leftist groups opposed to rapprochement with the United States had inspired the raid.
Khomeini saw it as a leftist ploy to undermine his authority. He was also concerned about the possibility of the United States taking strong military and political action against his still fragile regime.
Deciding to hedge his bets, the ayatollah played a double game for several days, waiting to gauge the American reaction.
According to his late son Ahmad, who had been asked to coordinate with the embassy-raiders, the ayatollah feared "thunder and lightning" from Washington. But what came, instead, was a series of bland statements by Carter and his aides pleading for the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds.
Carter's envoy to the United Nations, a certain Andrew Young, described Khomeini as "a 20th-century saint," and begged the ayatollah to show "magnanimity and compassion."
Carter went further by sending a letter to Khomeini.
Written in longhand, it was an appeal from "one believer to a man of God."
Carter's syrupy prose must have amused Khomeini, who preferred a minimalist style with such phrases as "we shall cut off America's hands."
As days passed, with the U.S. diplomats paraded in front of TV cameras blindfolded and threatened with execution, it became increasingly clear that there would be no "thunder and lightning" from Washington. By the end of the first week of the drama (which was to last for 444 days, ending as Ronald Reagan entered the White House), Khomeini's view of America had changed.
Ahmad Khomeini's memoirs echo the surprise that his father, the ayatollah, showed, as the Carter administration behaved "like a headless chicken."
What especially surprised Khomeini was that Cater and his aides, notably Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, rather than condemning the seizure and the treatment of the hostages as a barbarous act, appeared apologetic for unspecified mistakes supposedly committed by the United States and asked for forgiveness and magnanimity.
Once he had concluded that America would not take any meaningful action against his regime, Khomeini took over control of the hostage enterprise and used it to prop up his "anti-imperialist" credentials while outflanking the left.
The surprising show of weakness from Washington also encouraged the mullahs and the hostage-holders to come up with a fresh demand each day. Started as a revolutionary gesture, the episode soon led to a demand for the United States to capture and hand over the shah for trial. When signals came that Washington might actually consider doing so, other demands were advanced. The United States was asked to apologize to Muslim peoples everywhere and, in effect, change its foreign policy to please the ayatollah.
Matters worsened when a military mission to rescue the hostages ended in tragedy in the Iranian desert. The force dispatched by Carter fled under the cover of night, leaving behind the charred bodies of eight of their comrades.
In his memoirs, Ahmad nicely captures the mood of his father, who had expected the Americans to do "something serious," such as threatening to block Iran's oil exports or even firing a few missiles at the ayatollah's neighborhood.
But not only did none of that happen, the Carter administration was plunged into internal feuds as Vance resigned in protest of the rescue attempt.
It was then that Khomeini coined his notorious phrase, "America cannot do a damn thing."
He also ordered that the slogan "Death to America" be inscribed in all official buildings and vehicles. The U.S. flag was to be painted at the entrance of airports, railway stations, ministries, factories, schools, hotels and bazaars so that the faithful could trample it under their feet every day.
The slogan "America cannot do a damn thing" became the basis of all strategies worked out by Islamist militant groups, including those opposed to Khomeini.
That slogan was tested and proved right for almost a quarter of a century. Between Nov. 4, 1979, and 9/11, a total of 671 Americans were held hostage for varying lengths of time in several Muslim countries. Nearly 1,000 Americans were killed, including 241 Marines blown up while sleeping in Beirut in 1983.
For 22 years the United States, under presidents from both parties, behaved in exactly the way that Khomeini predicted. It took countless successive blows, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, without decisive retaliation. That attitude invited, indeed encouraged, more attacks.
The 9/11 tragedy was the denouement of the Nov. 4 attack on the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
Zbite me, Zbigniew.
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