[quote]zarathus wrote:
If we blame Carter for screwing up Iran (and I’m not debating this point) it seems fair to blame Reagan for arming Saddam Hussein.
The singling out Carter for cozying up to dictators seems duplicitous. Every post-WW2 President before the 1st Bush (as far as I can tell) had their favorite dictatorial regime to prop up.
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I think both Presidents have things they did at the time that, with 20/20 hindsight, can be judged as failures. Arming Iraq was a calculated gamble taken by Reagan. History says that was a stupid move. Not supporting the Shah turned out to be stupidity for Carter.
The one thing Carter should have done but didn’t was forcibly take back the hostages position. He allowed innocent people to be held against their will for over a year. He fathered and fostered the current terrorist movement by allowing them a stage to speak from. It was wrong then, and just as wrong now.
Never mind the fact that the economy did nothing but tank, and interest rates did nothing but rise under his tenure. Carter was just a weak, sorry President - the anti-Nixon.