Yep, you've got that right, except that the Peanut President made damn sure that the Shah is overthrown, thus getting us in this mess with Iran.
I care nothing for Carter. He was a fool and an incompetent. But he could not have kept the Shah in power. What do you advocate ? Sending American troops to Teheran ?
Imperial Iran had on paper very, very considerable military resources. It had the most powerful military east of Israel. If they were not enough to keep the Shah in power what the hell do you think we could have done ? If all those Iranian boys were not willing to die for their Shah what do you think we could have done ?