Liberal, non-Liberal, or otherwise
Squabbling over political backgrounds solves little and inflames already irritated minds. Fact is, Iran has had a very colored and very lopsided political existence as far as America is concerned, for many decades.
Start just a few months before Pearl Harbor. Iran got a new King, Shah Pahlavi, succeeding his father. Iran then had 2,500 continuous years of monarchy ruling the country. Pretty impressive record. Reza Pahlavi introduced a series of economic, political, and social reforms aimed at making Iran a modern player in global affairs. His achievements over 30 years+ time are of enormous merit, but at the cost of dictatorship. His secret police were known to perform home invasions, during which a child would be snatched away, never to be seen again. A bad side existed.
The Shah abdicated the throne in 1979, and fled the country. It was purported by news reports, a trainload of freight cars left with him, some containing untold tons of precious metal bullion, the Treasury of the country stripped and stolen. A year previous, the Shah had granted extreme dissidents living outside the country amnesty, including the Ayatollah Khomeini, who went on to become AMERICA'S nemesis. The Shah bounced from one country to another several times, and was found to be dying of cancer while in Mexico City. He requested permission to enter the U.S. for medical treatment, to which Khomeini publicly declared terrible consequences would ensue should that happen. Henry Kissinger, a good buddy of the Shah, arranged for treatment in New York City, to which the Shah was transported. Khomeini demanded, but of course was turned down, that the Shah be returned to Iran to be tried for crimes perpetrated there. As a result, 44 Americans in Iran were held there against their will for 444 days .
Jimmy Carter sent in a rescue effort which failed miserably, some of our soldiers I believe died in that effort. The Shah croaked, finally, having been the cause of near-world turmoil during that time. The hostages had suffered horrible treatment, including Russian-Roulette games, and mock executions. The hostages were officially released 20 minutes after Ronald Reagan completed his inaugural speech as President.
In the late '80s and early '90s, Colin Powell, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it was widely reported after the fact, of course, that Powell had clandestinely, circumventing Congressional approval, sent some several thousands of Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) to Iran! Some years later, those missiles were suspected of being used in attempts to shoot down civilian airliners.
How do you suppose our standing with Iran has been since that caper? imp
