There's a good article here on the responsibility for the state of the Middle East today borne by the worst US President in history, Jimmy Carter:

The truth is the entire nightmare can be traced back to the liberal democratic policies of the leftist Jimmy Carter, who created a firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the shah of Iran, in favor of a religious fanatic, the ayatollah Khomeini.

Carter viewed Khomeini as more of a religious holy man in a grassroots revolution than a founding father of modern terrorism. Carter's ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, said "Khomeini will eventually be hailed as a saint." Carter's Iranian ambassador, William Sullivan, said, "Khomeini is a Gandhi-like figure." Carter adviser James Bill proclaimed in a Newsweek interview on February 12, 1979 that Khomeini was not a mad mujahid, but a man of "impeccable integrity and honesty."

The shah was terrified of Carter. He told his personal confidant, "Who knows what sort of calamity he [Carter] may unleash on the world?"

Let's look at the results of Carter's misguided liberal policies: the Islamic Revolution in Iran; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Carter's response was to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics); the birth of Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization; the Iran-Iraq War, which cost the lives of millions dead and wounded; and yes, the present war on terrorism and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But equally noteworthy is this post in the comments after the piece, a real cri de coeur:

36. can anyone in this world tell me why..
23-year old Persian - IRAN_Khuzestan
06/20/2007 04:59

me a young Iranian speaking 4 languages, seeking for knowledge, born after the revolution just as the war with Saddam was going on,1. has to use internet cracks to reach this site. 2. not being appreciated by this regime, 3. every time I speak of freedom and human rights they hit me in the head! God why am I suffering for games others played with my country? am I a terrorist? do I want to destroy Israel? to I want war? no, no and no to all of these queations! I have respect for all human beings!