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It was
10:18 p.m. in Tehran, New Year’s Eve, 1977. The President of the United States of America, the leader of the most Christian nation on Earth, and the Free World’s greatest power, rose from his seat at a dinner in the lavish Navarian palace of Reza Palavi, King of Iran, and raised his champagne glass to the ‘Shah-an-shah,’ the King-of-Kings, who was celebrating 2,500 years of Iranian civilization and 50 years of Palavi rule. When Carter’s glass clinked to the Shah’s, the gates of hell cracked open, and from this apostasy emerged the Ayatollah Khomeini. Carter
toasted: "Iran is an island of stability in one of
the more troubled areas of the world. This is a great tribute to you,
Your Majesty, and to your leadership and to the respect, admiration and
love which your people give to you. There is no leader in the world for
whom I feel such deep gratitude and personal friendship as the
Shah." Before
the year was out, Iran would be in chaos. The Shah would be in fear of
his life. His family would join him in exile, and he would wander
throughout the world, seeking shelter and medical care for an illness
that would eventually claim his life. Even Carter would turn him away,
seeking to appease Khomeini, who had returned from exile in triumph.
Radicals held Americans hostage in the U.S. Embassy. Carter’s
Presidential Papers contain a transcript of his toast. It begins with
Mr. Carter crediting his wife for the visit to Tehran: “I would like to say just a few words tonight in appreciation for your hospitality and the delightful evening that we've already experienced with you. Some have asked why we came to Iran so close behind the delightful visit that we received from the Shah and Empress Farah just a month or so ago. After they left our country, I asked my wife, "With whom would you like to spend New Year's Eve?" And she said, "Above all others, I think, with the Shah and Empress Farah." So we arranged the trip accordingly and came to be with you.”
Then, Carter states how much he values the Shah’s leadership:
“The
transformation that has taken place in this nation is indeed remarkable
under your leadership. And as we sat together this afternoon, discussing
privately for a few moments what might be done to bring peace to the
Middle East, I was profoundly impressed again not only with your wisdom
and your judgment and your sensitivity and insight but also with the
close compatibility that we found in addressing this difficult
question.”
This is said to the man whom he would abandon, allowing to
be set in motion the forces that would overtake Iran and lead, as all
things such as this inevitably lead, to a radical Islamic state, which
is developing nuclear weapons. It
is almost certain that such weapons will find their way into the control
of terrorists, including organizations like Hamas that Iran directly
finances and supports.
This is the legacy of Jimmy Carter.
Carter continued his toast, noting that Iran had an
important regional role to play. This is consistent with the policy
inherited from the previous administrations of Presidents Nixon and
Ford, which was crafted by Henry Kissinger, the Nixon-Ford Secretary of
State, who envisioned a pro-Western Iran as having a ‘sphere of
influence’:
“We
also had a chance to discuss another potential troubled area, the Horn
of Africa. And here again we live at a great distance from it. But this
region, which already sees the initiation of hostility and combat, needs
to be brought under the good influence of you and others who live in
this region. And we will be glad to cooperate in any way that we can. We
want peace to return. We want Somalia and Ethiopia to be friends again,
border disputes to be eased and those of us who do have any influence at
all to use that influence for these purposes.”
Carter’s political successor, President Bill Clinton,
would abandon Somalia (“Black Hawk Down”), and desperate Africa
(e.g., Rwanda), harvesting another Carter legacy from seeds sown in
Iran. The following excerpt from the toast is particularly
prophetic, when we consider how Carter refused to allow Palavi official
sanctuary in America, even for the limited purpose of receiving medical
care to ease his passage from life. The ‘Shahanshah’ had to slip
secretly into the Cornell Hospital in New York City to receive
treatment, with armed guards filling the hospital corridors:
“I
have tried to become better acquainted with the culture of Iran in the
preparation for my visit here. I was particularly impressed with a brief
passage from one of Iran's great poets, Saadi. And I would like to read
a few words from him. Empress Farah tells me that he lived about 600
years ago.
"Human
beings are like parts of a body, created from the same essence. When one
part is hurt and in pain, others cannot remain in peace and quiet. If
the misery of others leaves you indifferent and with no feeling of
sorrow, then you cannot be called a human being."
“I
asked Empress Farah why this poet was so famous here in Iran, because he
had impressed me so greatly, too. And she said that because he had the
greatest facility for professing profound thoughts in the simplest
possible words that the average citizen could understand. Well, this
brief passage shows that there is within the consciousness of human
beings a close tie with one's neighbors, one's family, and one's
friends, but it also ties us with human beings throughout the world.
When one is hurt or suffers, all of us, if we are human beings, are hurt
and we suffer.”
Within 12 months, Carter would fail his own ‘human
being’ test. The toast ends, with Carter declaring:
“We
have no other nation on Earth who is closer to us in planning for our
mutual military security. We have no other nation with whom we have
closer consultation on regional problems that concern us both. And there
is no leader with whom I have a deeper sense of personal gratitude and
personal friendship. On behalf of the people of the United States, I
would like to offer a toast at this time to the great leaders of Iran,
the Shah and the Shahbanou (Empress
Farrah) and to the people of Iran and to the world peace that we hope
together we can help to bring.”
Ironically, Carter’s lack of resolve and foreign policy
weakness would invite the takeover of the American Embassy and the
holding of hostages throughout the remainder of his Presidency. It would
signal to the Soviet Union that the American retreat from worldwide
prominence was continuing. This retreat began with the abandonment of
the peoples of Southeast Asia, demanded by a Democrat Congress that had
completed the first American coup d’etat by ousting both a sitting
vice-President and President.
The retreat was now continuing in central Asia at Iran.
Sensing the vacuum and weakness, the Soviets would invade Afghanistan,
while Carter ranted impotently and the Democrat Congress turned a blind
eye. Fortunately for freedom-loving peoples, the disastrous Carter
Presidency would awaken the American people.
This would lead directly to the election of Ronald Reagan,
which, in turn, would lead to a resurrection of the American military
and the downfall of the Soviet empire. It would lead to Reagan’s
vice-President succeeding to Presidential leadership, and the beginning
of the reassertion of American prominence in the Middle East, by
removing Iraq from Kuwait and degrading the Iraqi threat to regional
stability.
The Carter legacy would set in motion the political forces
that would eventually oust the Democrats from control of both houses of
Congress, and, despite an eight years’ vacation from history during
the Clinton years, would bring about national leadership that would
restore America to a position and capability of meeting, again, the
challenge of Iran.
It all began with a toast on New Year’s Eve, 27 years ago.
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