Jimmy Carter The President

Source:The Movie Gourmet with a look at the American Experience documentary about Jimmy Carter.

"In PBS’ American Experience documentary Jimmy Carter, The New Yorker writer and former Carter speechwriter Henrik Hertzberg says:

Jimmy Carter was what the American people always SAY they want – above politics, determined to do the right thing regardless of political consequences, a simple person who doesn’t lie, a modest man, not someone with a lot of imperial pretenses.  That’s what people say they want.  And that’s what they got with Jimmy Carter." 

From The Movie Gourmet

"Jimmy Carter's story is one of the greatest dramas in American politics. In 1980, he was overwhelmingly voted out of office in a humiliating defeat. But over the subsequent two decades, he became one of the most admired statesmen and humanitarians in America and the world. 

Through interviews with the people who knew him best, JIMMY CARTER traces his rapid ascent in politics, dramatic fall from grace and unexpected resurrection, including Carter family home movies and a rare film sequence of Carter's final hours in the Oval Office, when he and his advisors waited in vain for the release of the Americans who had been held hostage in Tehran for 444 days." 

Source:American Experience Jimmy Carter

From The American Experience

When I saw this American Experience documentary about Jimmy Carter back in the spring or summer of 2003 on PBS, for the first time, this Hendrik Hertzberg (who was President Carter's speechwriter from 1979-81) quote about Jimmy Carter, stuck with me. Perhaps the only memorable quote from the documentary from the people they interviewed. Other than what Vice President Walter Mondale said about high interest rates and inflation, high energy costs, the lack of available oil and gas in the economy, was bringing real pain to the America people. That they weren't imagining that. 

When a political candidate, especially a politician, tells the voters exactly what he plans to do as President of the United States and then you vote for him, he gets elected and 2-3 years later you don't like what he's doing, it's not working out as well as you had hoped, don't the voters have at least some responsibility in that? It's not like they can honestly say: 

"Well, we didn't know that President Carter wanted us to conserve to help bring down prices and the cost of living, and was trying to balance the budget to reduce inflation and interest rates". 

You might not like what Jimmy Carter ran on when he ran for President in 1976. But that's why we have a democracy so people can vote for the candidate they like, or at least prefer. 

It's one thing to be lied to and to be misled and just be sold a pile of junk at full price, not knowing what you were buying, because it look so beautiful when you bought it. But when the voters know what they're getting ahead of time as far as what the candidate said he would do, if elected, and then he tries to do exactly that and even has some success at getting done what he said he would do, once he's in office, the voters bare a lot of the responsibility there. 

It's as the great political satirist George Carlin said about American voters and politicians, that was featured on The New Democrat 3 weeks ago: 

"Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from some other reality.

They come from American parents, American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses, American universities, and they’re elected by American citizens.

This is the best we can do, folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces. Garbage in…garbage out.

If you have selfish, ignorant citizens…if you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re gunna get selfish, ignorant leaders. And term limits ain’t gunna do ya any good. You’re just gunna wind up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans [leaders].

So, maybe…maybe…maybe it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here. Like…the public. Yeah, the public sucks! That’s a nice campaign slogan for somebody: “The public sucks! Fuck hope! Fuck hope!”

Because if it is really just the fault of the politicians then where are all the other bright people of conscience? Where are all the bright, honest, intelligent Americans ready to step in and save the nation and lead the way?"

You can see the rest of George Carlin's standup about American politicians and voters on The New Democrat

This post is not about Jimmy Carter the President as far as how successful he was as President, or just as a politician when he was President. But more about the character of Jimmy Carter as President. 

To paraphrase Hendrik Hertzberg: American voters during every election cycle (perhaps not so much now, but definitely pre-social media) say they want the President to be honest, to be above politics, to put the country above their own political ambitions and political party. But then they tend to vote for the person who is really just trying to get elected, or reelected, and is more than willing to say and do things, just to try to get reelected and get past the current political moment that they're in. 

American voters tend to say that they want a saint. But they vote for used car salesman instead, who advertise Ford Escorts as being better cars than Cadillacs. Not saying that James E. Carter (also known as Jimmy Carter) was a saint. But he was about as honest and decent of a man, perhaps the most honest and decent man who was ever President of the United States. And he never got rewarded, or even got any credit for that. Even though that's what American voters tend to say that's what they want as President of the United States. 

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James Miller Center: President Jimmy Carter: University of Notre Dame 1977 Commencement

This speech by President Carter in 1977 was not only huge, but I think the best speech he's ever given. And perhaps the best speech that any president has ever given when it comes to human rights and freedom. Making human rights an official part of American foreign policy and that the goal of the Carter Administration would be to promote human rights around the world. And that foreign aid would be one of those tools to do that. Which means to me at least that he wanted a foreign policy that would stop backing and subsidizing unilateralist authoritarian dictators.

This is really important, because the Soviet Union was making a big play to promote communism and their brand of authoritarianism around the world. They wanted to do that in Ethiopia, which already had an authoritarian government and they invaded Afghanistan that had a moderate monarchy. And while Russia is promoting their idea of authoritarianism around the world, here you have the leader of the free world, the leader of the most powerful and important liberal democracy in the world in Jimmy Carter, coming back and saying that human rights is what we should be talking about and what the world needs.

I would've liked to of seen more of this in his President Carter's foreign policy and make foreign aid a tool in promoting human rights, freedom and economic development in developing countries. And saying that the United States is no longer going to subsidize dictators and other authoritarians. And say if you want our assistance that assistance is going towards the benefit of your country. You're not going have a Marxist economy and you're free up your own people to be able to take control of their own lives. And no longer arrest people and hold them without trial. Or arrest people simply for speaking out against the government.

That foreign aid, has to be used for things like infrastructure, health care, education, economic development, foreign trade. And not be used simply to keep an authoritarian regime that doesn't know how to manage a command and control Marxist economy in power. Because America wouldn't like the regime that replaced the current regime that is in power. And where President Carter comes up short here, even though he had a lot of foreign policy accomplishments as I laid out last week, is that he kept in place the United States policy of subsidizing so-called moderate dictators in order to keep worst regimes from coming to power. Like with the Shah of Iran, which came back to bite him and America, well in the ass to be direct about it in 1979.

President George W. Bush's administration, made democracy the goal in their second term for the developing world and countries that live under dictatorships. I'm a Democrat and obviously I believe in democracy, but democracy by itself shouldn't be the end goal. Authoritarians, come to power through democracy all the time. The Nazis in Germany in the 1930s, the best example of this. What should be the goal here is human rights and freedom for countries that don't have those things. And where America can help here is by promoting freedom and human rights. You don't do that by invading and occupying countries simply because you don't like the current government. But you can do that through foreign aid and trade. And saying we'll help you if that help benefits the people and doesn't just keep the current regime in power.

President Jimmy Carter: One Ounce- Proposing Marijuana Decriminalization in 1977

Source:President Jimmy Carter- President Jimmy Carter, in 1977. 

President Jimmy Carter: "I support a change in law to end federal criminal penalties for possession of up to 1 ounce of Marijuana. Leaving the states free to adopt whatever laws they wish concerning Marijuana."
- Jimmy Carter (1977)"

From President Jimmy Carter

President Jimmy Carter in 1977, proposing what even now some Conservative Republicans, like Senator Rand Paul and a few others in Congress support today. Which is decriminalizing marijuana at the Federal level and allowing for states to make the decision of whether to decriminalize marijuana, or not. And if they decide to do that, their residents wouldn't have to worry about the Feds arresting them for marijuana possession, or usage. Remember, this is back in 1977. You didn't even have a majority of Progressive, or Liberal Democrats who thought this was a good idea.

President Carter, gets labeled as a centrist Democrat who was almost a President without a party and base. When the fact is he has a quality back then and today that a lot of so-called Liberals say they have to today. Which is foresight and the ability to see things happening in  the future and take steps now to prepare for what was going to happen in the future. I think he and his administration even when they entered office in 1977 could already see the harm from the so-called War on Drugs. And the fact that so many African-Americans were being locked up for just possessing small amounts of illegal narcotics.

The Nixon Administration, officially declares War on Drugs in 1971. By the early and middle 1980s the Reagan Administration escalates this so-called war and beefs up law enforcement against. By the way, an administration that was supposed to be against big government and yet all they did as increase the size of the Federal Government. The George H.W. Bush Administration, increases law enforcement to fight the War on Drugs and the Clinton Administration does the same thing in the 1990s. And you see why we have so many people in prison in America.

What if we went down the road that President Carter proposed in 1977 that the Obama Administration got the country back on when they came into office in 2009. And say the Feds won't interfere with states that decided to either decriminalize, or legalize and regulate marijuana including medical marijuana. And instead used those law enforcement resources against violent criminals and other real criminals. People who make a living profiting from their victims and who hurt people intentionally. Maybe today we have half the prison population that we have today. At least when it comes to non-violent offenders.

You can also see this post at FRS FreeState, on WordPress.

The National Journal: Peter Beinart: The Cost of Disowning Jimmy Carter

Source: The National Journal- 39th President of The United States, Jimmy Carter-

Source:The National Journal

Jimmy Carter, is one of those president’s who looks a lot better 30 years later than he did, really at anytime he was in office. By late 1977, President Carter’s approval rating was dropping he never gained any of the political momentum that he had when he entered office in January, 1977 with a Democratic Congress. That had a 2/3 majority in the House and a 3-5 majority in the Senate. Where Democrats and Republicans were becoming the Democrats and Republicans that they are today ideologically.

President Carter, had the economic crisis, or economic malaise and the Great Deflation on his plate. Which was at its strongest point by 1978 and the economy goes back into recession in 1979. High inflation, high interest rates, high cost of energy, energy shortages, the rise of Japan economically, all of these things led to a very weak American economy. With so many Americans simply struggling just to pay their bills. All of these things that the Carter Administration inherited, not created, but serious problems that they didn’t seem prepared for and have any answers for.

And then you go to foreign affairs, where America was still prompting up the Shah of Iran and seemed to not have any idea how unpopular he was at home and that the young people there especially wanted the Shah to fall. And be replaced by a different regime. I’m not sure its clear yet if they wanted the Shah to be replaced by an authoritarian Islamic theocratic dictatorship. But hated what they had in their leadership and President Carter and his team telling people in public how great a leader the Shah was with again not knowing how unpopular he was at home just made things even worst for everybody. So that is sort of the negative aspects of the Carter presidency.

The positive side and really the brilliance of Jimmy Carter and where he really is the Richard Nixon of the Democratic Party as far as pure intelligence and knowledge and the ability to see things way out in the future as happening in the short-term that know one else could, has to do with where the country was going politically and where the Democratic Party was going. President Carter, knew the days of the New Deal and Great Society were over. Not the support of those programs, but that America wasn’t looking to pay more in taxes and take more money out of their wallets to pay for knew welfare programs. That they believed there was a limit to what government could do for them.

I believe that President Carter, started to move the Democratic Party back to the Center-Left. We go from the George McGovern and the New-Left running the Democratic Party in 1972, to a Center-Left New Democratic in Jimmy Carter in 1976. Someone who didn’t believe in an expansionist unlimited government that could do practically everything for people if they just give them their money, or have it taken away from them in higher taxes. Carter, believed that government needed to be more practical, live in a budget and watch what it spends. Use government more to empower people to take control over their own lives. Instead of using government to manage people’s lives for them. Jimmy Carter in 1976, paved the way for Bill Clinton in 1992. Similar to how Barry Goldwater in 1964, paved the way for Ronald Reagan in 1980.

When it comes to foreign affairs. Who was the U.S. President that made human rights and freedom part of his foreign policy? President Jimmy Carter and he did that as part of his 1977 Commencement Address at Notre Dame. One of the best foreign policy speeches and speeches about human rights that you’ll ever hear an American President give. Which will be up on this blog hopefully next week. Where he said that, “recent democratic development’s and movement’s in Greece and India would free up the United States from the inordinate fear of communism that one led America to ally itself with brutal dictators who agreed to help fight the communist menace. What was needed in the New World that America faced was a policy based on constant decency in its values and optimism.”

The so-called Eastern Bloc of Eastern European Communist States in Slavic countries like Poland and Czechoslovakia, that were considered Russian satellite states during the Cold War, fell in the 1980s and the former Eastern Germany was part of the Russian bloc as well. The movements that led to those authoritarian regimes falling in the 1980s and led to democratic government’s coming to power there, said that President Carter’s 1977 human rights speech was part of their inspiration. President Ronald Reagan, gets a lot of credit for those communist states falling and perhaps he deserves some. And a lot of those states fell under President George H.W. Bush. But the fact is those movement’s started under President Carter’s watch and his administration helped them. The famous military buildup of the 1980s that partly led to the end of the Cold War, started under President Gerry Ford and President Jimmy Carter.

Egypt, recognized the Jewish State of Israel during the Carter Administration. Still the only Arab state to do that and that wasn’t an accident either. And Egypt and Israel have been at peace ever since. It was President Carter that brought Egypt and Israel together to sign the 1978 Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel. Which meant that Egypt would recognize Israel as a Jewish State and that Israel would give back some of the land that it won during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. And what would become what is known as the Palestinian Authority today, which is essentially the State of Palestine was part of that agreement as well. Where Israel would pull out of the West Bank and Gaza in Palestine and be replaced by a democratic Palestinian government.

How about the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977, where America finally gave up the Panama Canal to the Republic of Panama. Ending some American colonization in Latin America. And allowing for Panama and the Panamanian people to take control of their own country and land. Neoconservatives, obviously hated this, but this has been one of the most successful treaties that America has ever signed. President Carter, recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979. And the United States normalizes relations with the Communist Regime there, the largest country in the world in people. And they have remained one of our largest trading partners ever since. President Nixon, went to China in 1971 and got the ball rolling there. But President Carter and his administration got the ball in the end zone.

Energy policy, which has both to do with out economic policy and foreign policy. President Carter, knew that one of our foreign policy problems and economic problems had to do with the over reliance on Middle Eastern oil and foreign oil in general. A big reason why we were so close to the Shah of Iran and the Saudi Kingdom all of these years. Because we’ve needed their oil so much, even though they were both authoritarian states. President Carter, knew that we needed to get off of foreign oil and become energy independent. That we had all the resources to do that and that it was just a matter of developing them. He actually got an energy policy out of Congress in 1977 that started the development of alternative renewable energy sources in America. Solar and wind, are a couple of examples of that.

Not trying to make Jimmy Carter look like one of our top five greatest president’s, or even a great president. The reason why he lost reelection in 1980 had to do with his administration’s inability to deal with the economic and energy crisis of the late 1970s and political situation on the ground in Iran that led to the 1979 Islamic Revolution there and Iranian terrorists taking American hostages there in late 79. But to look at President Carter as a failure and as a weak President when he actually had a lot of great accomplishments during his term even just in four years, similar to President George H.W. Bush, is a big mistake.
PBS: NewsHour- Judy Woodruff Interviewing President Jimmy Carter: New Memoir

William Shanley: Jimmy Carter- 'Discusses His Presidency With William Shanley, February 1983'

Source:William Shanley- President James E. Carter (Democrat, Georgia) 39th President of the United States.

"Jimmy Carter discusses his Presidency with William Shanley - February 1983" 

From William Shanley

I'm not going to try to make the case that Jimmy Carter was a great president, or one of our best president's, because he clearly wasn't. I have a lot of respect for Jimmy Carter as a man and even to a certain extent for him as president. But he had so much on his plate when he came into the White House in 1977 and that just grew with the economy going down and even into recession in 1979-80 and with everything that came up in foreign affairs, that I'm not sure anyone would've been very successful as president in just four years on those issues.

A big reason why Jimmy Carter was elected President of the United States in 1976 was because he was an outsider. Washington was very unpopular in the mid 1970s with Congress and the Federal Government more broadly because of Watergate and the gridlock that was going on. And here comes this Washington outsider who had never worked or served in Washington, who was a successful Governor of Georgia who had a lot of appeal because he was an outsider. And who ran as someone who would always tell the truth and would always do what he believes was right.

The fact that Jimmy Carter was such a complete outsider to Washington I believe was part of his downfall. It was not just that he was an outsider, but most of his White House staff except for a few including his Vice President Walter Mondale were outsiders as well. People with little to no experience in how the Federal Government works and how Congress works. And not knowing how to deal with Congress. One of President Carter's classic mistakes was when he ran against Congress as President as someone who would take on Congress.

The problem with running against Congress, perhaps especially when your party controls both the House and Senate, Democrats controlled Congress both the House and Senate and with big majorities in both chambers. And President Carter needed to be able to work with his own party to get his policies enacted. 

President Carter not only ran against Congress, but he was a liberal New Democrat back in the late 1970s when that didn't become popular until the early 1990s, dealing with a progressive New Deal/Great Society Democratic Congress that wanted to expand the safety net in America. And go back to the 1960s economically.

Jimmy Carter is one of those classic examples as someone who would've done much better as President had he had some real experience in Washington before he became President. George W. Bush falls into this category as well. But had Carter served in Congress before the White House (in either chamber) and then went back to Georgia to run his business and serve as Governor before he became President, or served in the executive branch like in the cabinet or a combination of both executive experience at the Federal level and Congressional experience before going back to Georgia, he would've had the experience to do much better as President.

I see Jimmy Carter as an underrated President because of his success's in foreign policy as it did with the nuclear arms agreement with Russia. His dealings with China, the Middle East peace agreement with Egypt and Israel, the Panama Canal Treaty, keeping America out of war as President, making human rights the priority of his foreign policy which contributed to the opposition in Eastern Europe gaining strength and being able to take on the authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe. And with energy policy in trying to move America off of foreign oil. So I would give President Carter a B or perhaps even a B+ as President, but not one of our great president's. 

You can also see this post at FRS FreeState, on WordPress.

James Miller Center: President Jimmy Carter: Crisis of Confidence Speech (July 15, 1979)

Just to start out and to give you an idea of where I'm coming from. This is one of the most depressing speeches in American history. Especially coming from the President of the United States and coming from someone with the intellect of a Jimmy Carter. Not saying it was one of the worst speeches, or it was even a bad speech. Because he did make some good points about how the country was doing at this time in the summer of 1979 one of the worst summer's the country has ever gone through economically and perhaps in general.

But the problem with the country or even lack of confidence had nothing to do with the people itself. But the actual economy with the runaway inflation and interest rates, the energy crisis that made us look like a third world country in a country with all of the natural resources that we have. This crisis had nothing to do with materialism, or people being selfish, but what it was about the fact that a lot of Americans were unemployed, or seeing their business's fail and finding themselves on public assistance for the first time in their lives.

What President Carter was doing instead of focusing on the true economic challenges that the country was going through instead was trying to put the blame on the American people and suggesting that they were selfish and materialistic. Which obviously didn't play well which is what we see from the polling data after the speech where President Carter's poll numbers went down even further. So this speech was ineffective and if anything cost the President political power.

Al Jazeera: Operation Eagle Claw: Failed Attempt to Save The American Hostages in Iran

Source:FRS FreeState

This rescue attempt not working was a disaster for the Carter Administration for several reasons. One, it showed that they were not prepared and weren't sure who they were dealing with and the area they were dealing with to have a helicopter crash like that. Because it lacked the fuel and that they were simply just weak even compared with a group of Islamic terrorist thugs holding a group of American diplomats and keeping the greatest superpower in the world in crisis mode like that. Seeming not to know what to do and how to handle the situation. To go on top of a  pretty bad economy, the worst economy since the Great Depression.

With high unemployment, high prices, high interest rates and inflation, an energy shortage. That the Iranian Hostage Crisis along with the bad economy would be something that Ronald Reagan and Congressional Republicans as well as the Republican National Committee would be able to use against President Carter. And Congressional Democrats for the entire 1980 campaign, because the hostages weren't coming home before the general elections. I do give credit to President Carter for simply attempting the mission and looking for ways to quickly free the American hostages. One of those A for effort decisions. But an F as far as how the mission was planned and executed.

History Day: Iran Hostage Crisis Documentary 4th in State

Source:The Daily Press

What a crazy time for America and Iran. The Iranian people were fed up with their dictatorial authoritarian government that they had in Iran under the Shah that both the United Kingdom and United States backed for almost forty years and even installed in Iran. So what you had was a bunch of Islamic theocratic revolutionaries under Ruhollah Khomeini decided to stand up and the Shah knew he no longer had the authority to lead his country and decided to leave his country. Which left a power shortage in Iran with a new Islamic theocratic government under Supreme Leader Khomeini coming into place.

And because America had backed the Shah for so long and President Jimmy Carter saying that the Shah was such a fine leader and good man for Iran, these Iranian revolutionaries decided to take out their frustration and anger on what was left of American involvement in Iran which was our embassy there. And took about hundred American U.S. embassy employees hostage. Which is how the Iranian hostage crisis started. Which was essentially the end of Jimmy Carter as a strong leader in America, or even having the potential of being a strong leader of the United States. Because now America looked weak compared to a third-world country and was held hostage.

James Miller Center: President Jimmy Carter Report To The Nation on Energy (February 2nd, 1977)

Source:FRS FreeState

President Carter was right to take on energy policy and creating a national energy policy. That would move America off of foreign oil and move us towards energy independence. He understood that America has a surplus of natural resources and that we can and should be energy independent. Like Canada, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others and we shouldn’t have to import foreign oil. He understood the energy crisis of 1973 and how that hurt the American economy, thanks to OPEC. And understood the energy crisis of the late 1970s and how that effected the American economy. With higher energy prices, that contributed to our high unemployment. Because people were spending more money on their energy and as a result weren’t spending money on other products.

The problem with President Carter’s energy policy, is that it didn’t go far enough. It was almost completely focused on renewable energy resources. Wind, solar, natural gas and others. When yes, they should be part of a comprehensive energy policy. But those energy industries were so brand new and underdeveloped in the late 1970s. When this speech was given and still are today. That they alone can’t get America to energy independence. America produces oil, coal, nuclear and natural gas. We have the potential to produce a lot of these and can produce them all over the country. But we simply can’t get there on nuclear Power and oil drilling alone. They won’t get us to energy independence, but they are our mature energy resources right now. And have to be part of the picture.

Renewable energy, conservation, high energy standards, should and have to be part of a national energy policy. For our economy, so we can produce a lot more jobs in brand new energy industries. For our environment, to make it cleaner. And for our foreign policy, to get us off of foreign oil. And so countries that don’t have our best interest at heart, will have less leverage over us in the World. And this is exactly what President Carter was pushing. But he didn’t go far enough. He should’ve included oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power as well.

Because we don’t have to develop oil, gas, nuclear. Just produce more of them and do it as safe and as clean as possible. These energy industries are already there, because they are already there and mature. And employ a lot of Americans in this country. And we can produce them in a way that doesn’t harm the environment through regulation and taxation. President Cater deserves credit for focusing on energy policy and making it a centerpiece of his economic policy. And probably pushed this debate farther along than any President since. But missed an opportunity to create a comprehensive energy policy. That by now could’ve moved America to energy independence and finally off of foreign oil.

John Fitzhamh: The 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis

Source:FRS FreeState

The 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis was awful for lots of reasons. For one the hostages who had to go through that ordeal. The hostages friends and families who had to go through that ordeal. The American People who had to go through this ordeal as well. With all the news coverage and news specials that was dedicated to covering the hostage crisis. The country had to not only go through this ordeal, but also the embarrassment that came with it. How weak America looked as a result, that a group of students Islamic Terrorists in a third-world country could essentially take a country hostage.

As well as take an American presidency hostage. President Carter as well and probably crushed whatever hope he had left in getting reelected in 1980. Especially with Senator Ted Kennedy announcing that he would run for president in the Democratic primary's. America in this period was already going through a very rough period especially economically. With double figure unemployment and interest as well as inflation rates, with another recession. In 1978 as well as 1980 and was facing several other issues that all commanded the attention of the Carter Administration. But when you have American hostages in a foreign country especially in a country thats not friendly with where we had already closed our embassy there, thats job one. And you stay on that job until you (pardon the pun) get the job done.

The Carter Administration was on top of the hostage crisis and I give them credit for that. Despite all of the other issues they were dealing with. Like looking weak to use as an example with Russia invading Afghanistan a neighbor of Iran in late 1979. To try to install a communist government there. There are lots of reasons that led to the Iranian Hostage Crisis, none of them justified taking innocent people hostage. But most of them America's fault and the Iranians were justified in being angry at America. The main reason I believe being the Shah of Iran who was installed by the United States and United Kingdom. And could be removed and replaced at anytime the U.S. and U.K. wanted to.

And the Shah even though he was pretty progressive on economic and foreign policy and was a very bright man, was brutal dictator in how he dealt with political dissent in Iran. And this was a reason why the Islamic Revolution started in 1978 and took over the Iranian Government in early 1979. And the Shah fled to Egypt and an Islamic Theocracy was formed in Iran in 1979. And of course the Iranian Hostage Crisis in November 4, 1979. And even though the United States officially declared War on Terror in late 2001 after 9/11, I believe we were already in this war over twenty years earlier.

I believe the Iranian Hostage Crisis was the start of it in 1979. The U.S. Marine Barracks Bombing in 1982. Libya's sponsoring of terrorism in the mid and late 1980s in Lockerbie Scotland and other areas as well. And then you go to the 1990s with the first World Trade Center Bombing in 1993. As well as Saudi Arabia in 1996 and the East African Embassy Bombings in 1998. America was already in the War on Terror long before 2001, we just hadn't officially declared it yet.