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Revisionist history written by the victors. The GOP and CIA engineered the entire coup. They even delayed the release of the hostages until after Reagan's inaugral.



The Revolution had reached critical mass by the time the US government realized it was happening. The Shah was going down no matter what we did or didn't do. The Shah knew he was dying and he also knew that his weak chinned son would be eaten alive by the "street". He did the only thing he could to secure his familiy's safety.. He packed up them up and bailed.

I'm sure that the Reagan camp were in secret negotiations with the Iranians, especially after the election and during the transition. They would hve been fools not to. The problem at the time was the Iranian government was so fractured, and the "students" controlling the hostages were so powerful and protected, that the government lost control of the hostages for a period of time.

As for fairy tales about Bush, Sr. taking the Blackbird to Paris to negotiate with the Iranians, there is no evidence of that except Gary Sick's rantings and ravings.

I think the thing that gets forgotten is that the Iranian government, as an entity, despised Carter personally. They felt he wasn't negotiating in good faith, especially after the failed rescue attempt. They also say him as weak, which is deadly in that part of the world. Releasing the hostages on the day of the inagural was really little more than pissing on Carter the final time. The hostages had become a yolk around the neck of the Iranians as well as the Americans. They wanted to get out of the mess as much as we did, but they also wanted to save face. Pissing on Carter was just the best way of doing it. They also knew that Reagan was not to be played with on this issue. I' not trying to rah- rah Reagan here, but the secularists in the Iranian government knew that Reagan was more than ready to use a military option to free the hostages and in the middle of a bloodbath with Iraq, there were strong possibilities that the Iranian government could topple.

Carter was no scapegoat. He was incompetent as far as foreign relation went. I don't believe e screwed the pooch as far as the Revoltion goes, because I don't hink he could have affected it either way. He did, however, allow Mohammed Reza Pahlavi into the States as a humanitarian gesture. It was mistake no matter how you slice it. The Shah was for all intents and puposes too far gone, and any medical help he got here just postponed the inevitable. But it sent the Mullahs and the "street" over the edge, leading to an environment that saw America as a Great Satan that needed be confronted.

Barry
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Having killed someone doesn't make you a killer- @KINGROCHE