This is how Andrew Young, Carter’s US Ambassador to the UN, described Ayatollah Khomeini in 1978, long before the revolution succeeded: “Khomeini will eventually be hailed as a saint.”
And this is the New York Times characterization of Khomeini, a tolerant leader whose “entourage of close advisers is uniformly composed of moderate, progressive individuals.” The editorials went on to say Khomeini would provide “a desperately needed model of humane governance for a third-world country.”
William Sulivan, Carter’s ambassador to Iran, said, “Khomeini is a Ghandi-like figure.”
Carter adviser James Bill, the author of the very baised “Lion and he Eagle,” said that Khomeini is not a “mad mujahid,” but a man of “impeccable integrity and honesty.”
A man of impeccable integrity and honesty? Mullah Khomeini? “Humane?” A “Ghandi-like” figure? A “saint?” “Moderate?” “Progressive?”
Add to this backdrop, the BBC’s daily promotion of their well-groomed mullah. And some people actually think Jimmy Carter merely “abandoned” the Shah. It seems much more likely that he (and the UK) actively promoted and deliberately orchestrated Khomeini’s ascendancy.
