I just heard a retelling of this on NPR and, while I haven't checked wikipedia, it doesn't seem like much of this was Carter's fault. Here's how I understand the facts:
1.) USA pre-Carter supported the Shah. 2.) Shah is deposed during Carter's years. 3.) Carter admits Shah to US medical treatment (this could be the mistake). 4.) Students are pissed so they take over the US embassy and take hostages. 5.) Diplomacy ensues without much luck. 6.) Rescue mission put in place. 7.) Mechanical issues with the choppers force Carter to abort mission. 8.) On return from fueling point chopper and plane crash. 9.) Iranians get ahold of dead Americans and parade them around. 10.) Gov't is formed in Tehran and, after Carter is out, they release the hostages. Maybe there's a big picture I'm missing, but it doesn't seem like much of that was Carter's fault. Seems like he made the right decisions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Deploy Web Applications Quickly across the enterprise with ColdFusion MX7 & Flex 2 Free Trial http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:236970 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
