A lot of people, even Freepers, think Jimmy Carter was a good ol' boy that had a good heart, but was just out of his depth. Carter was always a small time con man. He turned against the Shah of Iran because the Shah wouldn't rewrite oil contracts to give Carter and his cronies money.
His brother, Billy, was working for the Libyans. I don't know if Carter's plan was to blow up the middle east, or if he was just trying to retaliate for a shake down gone bad, but don't buy this "elder statesman" bunk cause he goes out and hammers a few nails.