[genman]

I was obviously talking about 1979, as the topic is Jimmy Carter. The military could have stabilized the power transition. It's not about what military was doing - it was following the orders, and Shah was just too weak because of illness to give any. Iranian revolution destroyed the country and threw it into abyss of Islamic madness, forced millions to flee and forced the rest under inhumane control of theological dictatorship compared to what the regime of Shah feels like a walk in a park.

Iran was not a dictatorship but a constitutional monarchy. It was also like that before 1953. The only actual coup that really happened in 1953, was a coup by Mossadegh, who falsified the parliamentary elections to gain the power and then threatened Shah when he was not appointed as prime minister.

Now, perhaps he could have succeeded with his coup, but unfortunate for himself, he also made some very stupid moves, that removed the important support he needed.