THE FOUR POLITICAL DISASTERS

As I look back over my long life, I notice four major disastrous actions since WW-II.

The first happened under President Eisenhower when the CIA helped overthrew a duly elected democratic government in Iran* and our relations with Iran have gone downhill ever since.  At the behest of the forerunner of BP (Anglo-Persian Oil Company), the British government requested that the U.S. overthrow the government of Mohammod Mosaddegh   Defenders of Eisenhower say that the CIA went rogue in doing so and Eisenhower didn't know about it.

The second was when President Reagan failed to react militarily to the embassy attacks in Lebanon and Kuwait plus the Beirut Marine base bombing.**  Instead he cut and ran which emboldened terrorists who concluded that the U.S. wouldn't react to their machinations which eventually led to the U.S. getting involved militarily in the quagmire of the Middle Eastern politics.

The third involved President George W. Bush (Bush-43) who got us involved militarily in the middle eastern quagmire in Iraq.***  I think that it was appropriate for the U.S. to get involved militarily in Afghanistan after the World Trade Center airplane attacks killing nearly 3,000 people.

The fourth also involved President Bush (Bush-43).  His opposition to regulation of the financial industry**** resulted in a financial collapse of the economy from which we are still digging out although the stock markets and corporate profits have been very good

You might ask what about Vietnam and President Johnson?  At the time of the Vietnam war, I would have included it as a major disaster and in terms of lives lost it is.  Today, however, we have friendly relations with Vietnam, and they are an important trading partner with which we have diplomatic ties.  President Bush (Bush-43) went to Vietnam twice and wanted to sign a trade agreement with them, but the Senate disagreed.  We may have to wait for my generation to die out before full economic relations are achieved with them.  Korea was another major problem at the time, but, since the Korean War, South Korea has developed into an economic power, and, in spite of the hostile nature of North Korea, the area seems stable with South Korea being an ally of ours.  President Eisenhower did us a favor by ending the Korean War.  In contrast, I don't see the Middle East countries becoming important U.S. allies within say the next 30 yrs, but I won't be around to see if I am right.

Even WW-II resulted in Japan and Germany curiously becoming important allies of the U.S. and major economic powers.  Because of problems involving religions and former colonization, I don't see that happening with the Middle East.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'état
** http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/19/1147106/-Breaking-Ronald-Reagan-refuses-to-call-embassy-attack-an-act-of-terror; http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/176699.pdf
*** http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/870845/Iraq-War
****http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007–08; http://www.umsl.edu/~dibooglus/personal/financial%20crisis_revised.pdf