ISIS to Putin: "We are coming for Russia!"

[regexcellent]

Still you overthrew him, despite him being a loyal US lackey for decades

No we didn't. Carter just didn't save him.

And the "alternative is so much worse" approach have never stopped you from ruining Libya or Iraq.

Libya was mainly driven by the Europeans, until they ran out of bombs and we had to bail them out.

[Dr Strangelove]

He wasn't .01% as brutal as the people who took his place, and let's face it, pretty much all the people he brutalized were bad guys. As dictators go, he was as tame as they come. Like Mubarak, it's stupid to complain about his crimes when the alternatives are so much worse.

We had someone lined up to replace him, but we didn't take into account the Ayatollah's popularity and influence.

[Felch]

Wrong as usual. The other alternative to him (besides conservative islamists) were islamic socialists and other secular liberals, which the US definitely didn't want to see seize power.

You think the Carter administration preferred muslim fundies to secular liberals?

[Ellestar]

You do realize we are bombing the crap out of ISIS and are sending troops to Iraq to assist the Iraqis to defeat ISIS? SecDef Hagel is currently in Turkey to build an anti-ISIS coalition.

Why would we be dedicating resources to defeat our 'lackeys'?

Because your lackeys got out of control and they're now attacking your other lackeys in Iraq and your citizens? Like it was with Al Quaeda and Taliban?

[Felch]

Because his brutality was embarassing us.

You think we gave a **** about brutal dictators during the Cold War? What planet are you from?

[Dr Strangelove]

This occurred in the late 1970's when the US was still under the shadow of Vietnam and Watergate. Jimmy Carter vowed to keep Amreican diplomacy on the high road, the Shah was not compatable with the image he wanted to project.

[The Mad Monk]

You think the Carter administration preferred muslim fundies to secular liberals?

Were Muslim fundies even on the radar prior to the fall of the Shah?

[The Mad Monk]

You think we gave a **** about brutal dictators during the Cold War? What planet are you from?

The same one Carter was from?

[Felch]

We overthrew the Iranian government in 1953, not in 1979. Unless any of you have a scrap of evidence to support this insane theory (that the US would topple its most trusted ally in a region because Carter felt guilty) I'm going to have to write you both off as historically confused.

[Hauldren Collider]

The only thing Carter did was fail to prop up the Shah. He could have done more to prevent the Islamist takeover, but to suggest that he actually supported Khomeini and co. is insane.

[Felch]

Exactly. There's a huge difference between seeing that further support will be wasted and what certain idiots are saying in this thread.

Even the Iranian revolution was initially propped by the US.

Still you overthrew him, despite him being a loyal US lackey for decades