Posted by
txag007 on Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:16:18 AM
Former President Carter met today with the leader of Hamas, a terrorist organization which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, and he did so against the wishes of the State Department. The following is perspective on Carter's decisions on Middle East policy, provided by none other than former President Reagan (via his autobiography).
But I wasn't happy with the events in Iran. The sudden emergence of fanatic Islamic fundamentalism as a political force in the Middle East was a development that would have posed a difficult challenge to any Western leader concerned with our strategic interests there. It wasn't an easy situation for Carter to deal with, and he couldn't be faulted for the awakening of this dark and fanatical force.
But I felt that by standing by and failing to come up with a viable alternative to deal with the crisis when the Shah of Iran was forced from power in early 1979, the Carter administration had sown the seeds of the foreign policy disaster that would later engulf it.
I was told by officials of the Shah's government that after rioting began in the streets of Teheran in 1979, the Shah's advisors told him if they were allowed to arrest five hundred people -- the most corrupt businessmen and officials in the government -- the revolutionary fires could be extinguished, and they could head off the revolution.
But the people in the American Embassy told the Shah to do nothing, and he didn't. Until the very end, he kept telling his staff, "The United States has always been our friend and it won't let me down now." Well, he took our advice on how to respond to the mobs and when he had to flee his country, the United States didn't even want to let him in for the medical care that he desperately needed. It was terrible treatment for a man who had been our friend and solid ally for more than thirty-five years.
Yes, there had been serious human rights abuses under the Shah. But he had done many good and progressive things for his country; he had brought it into the twentieth century, and in the years preceding his downfall, the Shah had begun to tolerate dissent to his policies and try to stamp out the corruption that was so prevalent in his country that had made it ripe for revolution.
Our government's decision to stand by piously while he was forced from office led to the establishment of a despotic regime in Teheran that was far more evil and far more tyrannical that the one it replaced. And, as I was to learn through personal experience, it left a legacy of problems that would haunt our country for years to come.
Years and years to come. Indeed.