So what did we actually achieve?

[Lord Jim]

I do think much was accomplaished by making it clear to the strongmen we were supposedly allied with that we would not automatically support them

Well Big RR, then your recollection is quite different from mine....

Do you have any specific examples that you can cite to buttress that conclusion? Personally, I can't think of a single one.

I will say that TIC did not try to impose this policy uniformly....

He never for example, leaned on Ferdinand Marcos....(who finally relinquished power, you may recall, in 1986, after The Reagan Administration made clear to him that he had to go....that was a pretty gutsy call, given the importance at the time of Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay Naval Base, the two largest US Air Force and Naval bases outside of US territory)

[Big RR]

Jim--a specific example? Not reallly. But I do think that his policy began the dismantling of the previous US position of not giving a damn about the abuses our "friends" committed. This set the stage for future administrations to take human rights into account and, while it was never universally applied (even under Carter, as you pointed out) it did set the table for Reagan to push Marcos out (as you noted) and even gave us the moral position to rally our allies to support us in Gulf War 1. Carter set the compass in an entirely different direction from his predecessors from Truman to Ford, and it moved the direction of our foreign policy from containment of communist regimes at any price, to having some, however small, consideration for the indigienous populations and their rights. Our south and central american policies were especially affected, and progress was made to the point where we would accept the will of the people even if this was contrary to our interests. This was a consequence of the legacy of Carter, and I will not diminsh his contributions, however incosnsistent and/or ineptness in getting immediate results.

[rubato]

"The Carter Doctrine", by the time of Bush II, had become accepted policy in U.S. foreign affairs.

"The Kissinger Doctrine" (supported by Reagan) had been abandoned as monstrous and inhuman.

yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

A string of bomb attacks and shootings in Baghdad and north of the capital has killed at least 39 people, say security and medical officials.

In the worst single reported incident, at least 18 people were killed in Taji, a Sunni neighbourhood some 20km (12 miles) north of Baghdad.

At least nine incidents hit the capital itself and towns to the north.

Several members of the security forces were reportedly among the dead, and at least 74 people have been wounded.

Deadly car bombings hit Baghdad and the northern oil city of Kirkuk.

Dhuluiya, Saadiya, Khan Beni-Saad, Tuz Khurmatu and Dibis were also said to have suffered attacks.

They come a day after another spate of bombings, this time south of the capital, killed at least 17.

[rubato]

The Kurdish areas in the north are doing very well but I can't see any of the rest of the country forming any kind of functional society any time soon.

But that is their problem to solve, not ours.

yrs,
rubato