(JNS) When Jimmy Carter occupied the White House, Menachem Begin was prime minister of Israel. Carter viewed the world through a deeply religious and, at times, naive lens. To him and many around him, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini appeared to be a pious and even saintly religious figure. Even CIA director Adm. Stansfield Turner—and perhaps those responsible for the Tehran desk—lacked a real understanding of Khomeinism or of the ideological doctrines contained in the Shiite clerical canon.
Yitzhak Hofi, however, then head of the Mossad, understood that Israel’s true regional ally, SAVAK, was warning of the emergence of a poisonous mushroom, a cancerous growth and an expanding infection inside Iran. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi—America and Israel’s loyal ally and trusted friend—was battling cancer, yet he understood better than anyone the danger posed by the rise of Islamist terrorism. Carter and the CIA failed to grasp the Shah’s warnings, and their misjudgment burdened the world with a crisis that has endured for nearly half a century.
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The forth coming battle with the Iranian regime will happen on a far greater scale then people at present imagine. The greater the scale, the greater the consequences.
There are very mixed reports about Pahlavi’s suitability for the role you set out. You may be right about him and if he can deliver what you describe, that would be a great blessing for the Iranian people. But is he the man to deliver a successful transition to a country in dire need on so many fronts? Where is the evidence that he would command the degree of respect and support from sufficient numbers of Iranians to carry out this task?