Israel: Defender of Arab Dictators (and a few others)

"... The shah’s defense minister saw how the US was preparing to seek the shah’s removal and concluded that Washington “took the shah by the tail, and threw him into exile like a dead rat.” THERE ARE several similarities between US policy in 1979 toward Iran and its policy in 2011 toward Egypt....

The US position did not go far enough to win the support of the Egyptian protesters, but by disgracing Mubarak the administration made statements that will alienate any future government based on Mubarak’s men. Moreover, what kind of signal did Gibbs’s threat about cutting aid send to King Abdullah of Jordan or to President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, as well as to other allies in the Persian Gulf? Did it mean that as soon as an Arab leader gets into trouble, he starts to get disowned? A second similarity between the two crises is the US reliance on individuals whom they hope will create stability and will not be exploited by more extremist forces. In 1979, ambassador Sullivan recommended that the Carter administration work with Mehdi Bazargan, who Khomeini wanted as prime minister, instead of Shaphur Bakhtiar whom the shah appointed to take over...."