A Trip Back in Time...

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was a friend of the United States.  He was the Shah of Iran.  

Until we knifed him in the back, that is.

Seems like we do that a lot lately, wouldn't you say?  Remember all those folks falling off the C-17's as they departed from Afghanistan?  As we turned tail and ran? 

But our yellow streak didn't start back then.  How about the Korean War (we called it a "Military Action")?  Or even the Viet Nam "Police Action?"  We lost 54,000 of our heroes in Korea and 55,000 in Viet Nam, but stiffing our friends didn't end there.  Let's take a look at Iran, shall we?

We'd long been a friend of, and to, Iran.  Its leader, Shah Pahlavi, maintained a pro-western foreign policy and fostered economic development in his country.  His people were both free and educated.  It's females paraded around wearing Paris fashions.  Tehran was considered the jewel of the Asia.  

The Shah was was both anti-Soviet and anti-Shiite Muslim.  And although a supposed Sunni, he held himself out to be a secularist.  So he was therefore pro-American.  So we gave him $Billions.  Tanks and guns and planes and the training how to use them.  And $Cash.  Which made him rich.  He ran a sort of Western democracy, but was a hard a*s to anyone who represented a threat to his throne.  The "Peacock Throne," upon which he'd sat since 1947.  More than 1,000 years of his family's dynasty.  

So he threw a lot of folks in jail, which caused some of his citizens to revolt.  And some of our uber-Liberals to wring their little manicured hands.  He appealed to America for support, but our President Jimmy Carter was so offended by his human rights record he was willing to sacrifice our Middle-Eastern dominance.  And God help us, he did.  We turned our backs on the Shah, and the rest is history.  

We wouldn't give him the political and military cover he needed to beat back the rebellion.  Jimmy Carter screwed him again by not permitting him to make his exile in the U. S.  We Refused Him Entry!  He was a man without a country.  Literally.

He and his family flew out of Iran on January 17,1979.  He hopscotched all around the globe for more than a month until he found a place to land.  Egypt felt sorry for him and gave him sanctuary.  He then died of cancer a year later on July 27, 1980.   

All he needed was a safe place to die, and we said no.  Do you not think our enemies were paying attention?

Almost immediately, as his plane departed Tehran International Airport, Sheikh Mohammed Ruhollah Khomeini's plane left Paris.  Where he'd been the religious leader of the Shiite Muslims, living in exile.  He flew into Tehran and into his new position as de facto Ayatollah.  Which means "emperor."  A monarch to replace a monarch.  Except this monarch was to strictly enforce Muslim religious dogma.  To the extreme detriment of his people.    

Their freedom was over.  And our troubles were just beginning...

Iran went from pro-American to anti-American overnight.  And the dumbass in the White House had to then devote military and diplomatic resources to defend against it.  So much so that Iran's religious extremists took over our Embassy in Tehran and with it 103 American hostages.  And held them for 444 days.  Thank you President Carter!

And let's not forget that Jimmy sent a couple of C-130's to try and rescue our hostages, but they crashed into each other in a sandstorm and killed a bunch (23) of our troops.  Thank you Jimmy!   

For those of you born after all of this, you now know why Jimmy Carter was the most despised POTUS we've ever had.  I say was, because we're now plagued with O'Biden.  Jimmy will die soon knowing he's no longer the worst.

So Iran is now developing a nuclear weapon, or two or three or eight; and Iran is funding and supplying and arming the Houthi Rebels; which has shot rockets at us and our ships and our planes more than 166 times as of this date; and Iran funded and trained and supplied the HAMAS terrorists that killed 1,200 Israeli settlers on October 7th; and has been providing the military support for the Gaza (and West Bank) fighters for years.  And just killed three of our soldiers in a rocket attack.  The bastards.  

All of this because we wouldn't keep a promise to a friend.  A promise that America needed Carter to keep.  And keeping promises after this date for some of our presidents became, shall we say, "optional."  

I lived through all of this.  If you didn't understand exactly why the whole Middle East is a powder keg, waiting to explode, it's because our pus*y Democrats since Kennedy have been too afraid to show strength.  The military strength that would dissuade our enemies from testing our might.

As an ex-soldier and intelligence annalist, I can tell you they're doing that right now.  We're witnessing our "leaders" misuse and misappropriate and misapply our military strength, potentially igniting the fuse for World War III.  I hope I live to see that fuse fizzle out.  Or if it doesn't, I hope I do not live to see the fruits of their ignorance blossom...

P.S.  With exception of checking on a couple of dates, I wrote this entirely from memory.  Because I lived it.  Like so many other folks my age, and near my age.  And like the guy in the White House, even though his actions bely it.  Unfortunately, our society seems not to have learned by experience.  We're proving it today.  God help us...