Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
There (Iran) too we balanced the extreme amount of capital we were shipping to the Shah in exchange for Iranian oil with massive sales of military hardware.
We bought very little oil from Iran -- our relationship involved the extraction of oil and the concomitant money from the soil of Iran. Those massive sales of military equipment did not start until the US and the Saudis sabotaged oil prices and inadvertently (on our part, almost certainly deliberately on the part of that Saudis) Iran and the Shah at the Doha Conference in 1976, mostly at the behest of William Simon -- the Shah then began to realize that the US was perfidious and decided to embark on his own program, telling us he preferred to buy here but was going to buy what he wanted from somewhere. Speak to Zbig and Jimmy -- they sold him everything and then pulled the rug out from under him.
There too the Shah (with no help from us, not needed, just as the Saudis do not need our help in this mission so long as the people remain cowed) acted ruthlessly to keep an extremely oppressed and insurgent populace in check with one hand, while he entertained US dignitaries in opulent excess with the other.
Where do you get this stuff? The Shah played rough, no question -- but Khomeini killed more people in his first two years than the Shah had in the previous 25. Opulent excess. Poetic -- and wrong. the Shah didn't like American and didn't entertain much, the minions did and not all that opulently.
There too, as late as 1977 the DIA predicted that the Shah would remain strongly in power for at least another 10 years...
Accurate at the time but that was before Carter told the CIA to get him dumped in late '78. I wish people who decide to use Iran as an example for much of anything would get their facts together before they write...
But in such a powder keg of oppression it only takes a spark, and with Arab spring burning brightly all around the Kingdom, such sparks are easily found.
Sounds good. Idealistic but good. We'll see.
These were and are complex and important relationships...
But Bob, you just told me we over complicated things and that this was simple. Which is it?
But the first step to getting better is to recognize we have a problem and to take responsibility for our actions that contributed to bringing us here.
I'm not at all sure that will be enough, taking responsibility is just saying things -- actions completed are hard to undo. Particularly in an area that throws words around willy nilly and operates on Ta'arif -- tell people what they want to hear. They're subject to think that we're doing just that. Rather than trying to re-do the past, better to just move on.