MY LETTERS
Letter to Editor, Orlando Sentinel, about Carter's failure in Iran
5 January 2025
Dear Editor, Orlando Sentinel:
The recent passing of President Jimmy Carter prompts recollection of one of his unfortunate legacies: His lack of support for our ally, the late Shah of Iran, which emboldened anti-Shah militant Islamists in that country.
Without continuity of U.S. backing, Carter weakened the Shah, who had been a rock of stability in the Middle East and a staunch U.S. ally. Iranian clerics who were willing to work with the Shah were undermined. These were “accommodationists” who cooperated with the Shah provided he ruled according to Iran’s Constitution rather than by royal decree. The key figures of this group included the Imam Jum’ah of Tehran and Ayatullah Mahdavi, who avoided confrontations against the Shah. Other clerics, especially strict Islamists, such as the “justice group” led by Ayatullah Khomeini and Ayatullah Shirazi became more vehement against the weakened Shah. Khomeini ultimately succeeded in overthrowing him in 1979 via the Islamic Revolution, which I personally witnessed when I lived in Iran.
Since then, with Iran ruled by Islamist militants, starting with Khomeini, the region and the world have suffered repercussions. The immediate one was in Iran itself when militants seized the U.S. Embassy in 1979. Later in 1979, the first regional repercussion was in Afghanistan. The then-Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to protect its pliant regime there from Iranian Islamists. During subsequent decades, the Soviets and its pliant regime were defeated, the country was racked by civil war, and various Islamist groups became ascendant and terroristic against the West, including the Mujahedin, Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Isis-Khorasan. This led to a decades-long U.S. intervention, resulting in the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers. In 1980, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein perceived that Iran’s armed forces were in disarray after the Shah’s overthrow and invaded Iran, precipitating an eight-year-long war and the deaths of half a million soldiers on both sides. Meanwhile, Iran became assertive against Israel via proxy groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, which continue to endanger Israel.
Carter’s weakness and lack of support for the Shah resulted in a cascading effect of repercussions that the world has been suffering for decades. Carter’s tragic legacy is his betrayal of our ally, which resulted in regional instability, revolution, the rise of Islamism, invasions, wars, and the deaths of millions of people.
Ralph Groves, Doctor of Arts
U.S. Army Major (Ret.), Veteran, Iraq War
Letter: Bulwark against militant Islamism in West Africa
PUBLISHED: July 12, 2018 at 6:15 p.m. | UPDATED: December 13, 2018 at 3:25 a.m.
As a former analyst of West Africa, I was interested in your article “Islamist terror groups eye West Africa” (Orlando Sentinel, July 6). The article correctly stated that Islamist militant groups threaten West African countries. As you mentioned, these groups include Boko Haram and al-Qaida affiliates (e.g. al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a Salafi-Islamist group). Though not mentioned, Ansar al-Din, an Islamist group in northern Mali, is also a threat.
More important, your article’s discussion about security forces (with American and European assistance) and about the fragility of some countries’ governments left out the main bulwark against militant Islamism: the cultural factor of Sufism, the variant of Islam prevalent in West Africa.
Over centuries, Sufism accommodated African traditions, has been tolerant of Animism and Christianity, and has emphasized spirituality instead of overt control of governments — therefore opposing militant Islamism in these regards.
While Sufism in West Africa has been the main bulwark against Islamist militants, its cultural influence may be eventually undermined.
Saudi Arabia and Iran fund expansion of Wahhabism and Shi’ism, respectively, eroding the influence of anti-Islamist Sufism.
Security forces and governments will never be strong enough to counter Islamist militants if Sufism loses its predominant position in West African culture.
Ralph Groves Winter Garden