[curmudgeonII]

It's highly unlikely that Carter could have done anything to prevent the downfall of the Shah. In fact, a pretty good case can be made that much of the anti-Americanism that arose during the shah's deposing can be traced back to Eisenhower's forcing Mossadeek [spelling?] when Ike was in office.

There's enough other stuff that you can nail Carter and his Georgia mafia on that you don't have to use Iran.

[Chemnitz]

It was stated in Time magazine that Clinton people told the Iranians that he would not support the Shah. This really set up the bloodbath where all the pro-Western leaders were slaughtered.

Clinton is like a lot of poor leaders. He is a major undercutter while appearing weak and incompetent. He really set into motion the Clinton presidency, including gutting the military, a Carter innovation.

But Carter was strong when it came to taking care of himself. He actually did whip Teddy's capacious ass, but that only set up the Reagan win. I really admire one thing about Carter - he got Reagan elected.

[piasa]

It's highly unlikely that Carter could have done anything to prevent the downfall of the Shah. In fact, a pretty good case can be made that much of the anti-Americanism that arose during the shah's deposing can be traced back to Eisenhower's forcing Mossadeek [spelling?] when Ike was in office.

That is only because myth has made Mossadek into a hero, when in fact he was doing to Iran what Chavez is doing in Venezuela and what allende did in Chile. Mossadek was APPOINTED by their equivalent of a congress- once in power he nationalized the oil companies (in other words, stole them from their owners in true communist fashion) and then when the economy collapsed he came under fire. Mossadek then disbanded their 'congress' ... hardly the act of some "democratic" leader.

[gusopol3]

It's highly unlikely that Carter could have done anything to prevent the downfall of the Shah.

How about blowing the Ayatollah's plane out of the sky on its way from Paris, like the Iranian generals wanted to do in self-defense?