Quote Originally Posted by Tom Odom View Post
The collapse of American influence in Iran cannot simply be laid at his feet. It started well before Carter assumed the office of President. And the Shah himself--with his extravagant life style and excess along with the SAVAK did much to set the ground for Khomeini.

Khomeini is the father of the modern era of Iranian Shia radical fundamentalism. He is not the first. There has been a historical cycle of conflict between secular and non-secular forces in Iran and around it.
Absolutely. Although Jimmy Carter was a terrible president and an even worse ex-President, the forces of Shi'ite radical fundamentalism were operating as history sometimes does, as a grand, almost inevitable wave.