Bicentennial Man: Ford '76 and Beyond

Purely as an addendum, did anybody screw themselves down the line more than Shariatmadari - a moderate Shiite cleric who favored a depoliticized clergy - when he prevented Khomeini's execution in the 60s by elevating him to the rank of Ayatollah (making him exempt from execution) only to wind up on Khomeini's bad side in the 80s and stuck in house arrest while the radicals took over the country? Damn talk about no good deed going unpunished.
 
Purely as an addendum, did anybody screw themselves down the line more than Shariatmadari - a moderate Shiite cleric who favored a depoliticized clergy - when he prevented Khomeini's execution in the 60s by elevating him to the rank of Ayatollah (making him exempt from execution) only to wind up on Khomeini's bad side in the 80s and stuck in house arrest while the radicals took over the country? Damn talk about no good deed going unpunished.

Ooof yeah. Iran would be better off he was calling the shots there
 
In the iran iraq war well more spesifically the battle of the marshes the iraqi flooded some part of the area and put barbed wire and high voltage electrical wire rendering a frontal attack useless this forced the iranian to do an amphibious assault
Well, maybe that's "cool"... in a sort of horrifrying* way. Interesting! Thanks for the info.

(*I'm only slightly sorry.)
 
Ogaden War - Spring 1978
"...the Ethiopian government, with several provinces now in collapse, effectively ceded the sham West Somali referendum to better focus on cracking down on the restive rebels, and infighting consumed the Derg, with several attempted coups threatening to explode in Addis during the spring even as the hinterlands plunged into bloodshed..."

- Cold War, Dark Continent

"...Barre was a hero to Somalia now, having grown the country's land by nearly 40% and put it on the path to realizing a Greater Somalia. This of course caused alarm in Kenya; the borderlands between their county and his were ethnically Somali, and with Kenyatta in steep decline (he would die within months without a clear successor) the government made furious calls to Britain demanding to know where London stood on the increasing coziness between Washington and Mogadishu..."

- Postcolonialism in East Africa: A Dissertation

"...we should point out that we obviously still weren't entirely sure if we could trust Barre. That he was publicly announcing a suspension of his friendship with the Soviets [1]
went over well on the seventh floor, but there was still some skepticism about this guy. He still seemed like a loose cannon, and we weren't thrilled about wars of conquest in the Third World, since that seemed like ripe ground for shenanigans..."

- Frank Carlucci, CIA Director 1978-1981


[1] Friendship with Leonid Brezhnev ended! Gerald Ford is my best friend now
 
Well, Somlia is now celeberating though how long that will last we will hae to wait and see for this. And oh boy, Somalia is now going close to the Americans while the ghole thing is going to crazy. Ethiopia needs someone to help and I imagine the monarchy is looking more appealing by the day.
 
"...the Ethiopian government, with several provinces now in collapse, effectively ceded the sham West Somali referendum to better focus on cracking down on the restive rebels, and infighting consumed the Derg, with several attempted coups threatening to explode in Addis during the spring even as the hinterlands plunged into bloodshed..."

- Cold War, Dark Continent

"...Barre was a hero to Somalia now, having grown the country's land by nearly 40% and put it on the path to realizing a Greater Somalia. This of course caused alarm in Kenya; the borderlands between their county and his were ethnically Somali, and with Kenyatta in steep decline (he would die within months without a clear successor) the government made furious calls to Britain demanding to know where London stood on the increasing coziness between Washington and Mogadishu..."

- Postcolonialism in East Africa: A Dissertation

"...we should point out that we obviously still weren't entirely sure if we could trust Barre. That he was publicly announcing a suspension of his friendship with the Soviets [1]
went over well on the seventh floor, but there was still some skepticism about this guy. He still seemed like a loose cannon, and we weren't thrilled about wars of conquest in the Third World, since that seemed like ripe ground for shenanigans..."

- Frank Carlucci, CIA Director 1978-1981


[1] Friendship with Leonid Brezhnev ended! Gerald Ford is my best friend now
Damn that quick? Wow ethiopia is a mess i bet the eritrean rebel is having a blast in this situation and btw what is the reaction of the cubans after this whole fiasco
 
I guess the question on who the Americans want to back, Somalia or Ethiopia? The Derg is clearly on the edge of losing power which would be to their advantage. Perhaps the US could broker a deal with the Somalis and Ethiopians: in exchange for Ethiopia recognizing the Ogaden being Somalia's, Somalia in turn would reinforce Ethiopia over in Eritrea. The coastline would be more valuable to Ethiopia than the Ogaden and the bringing of stability would help cement the government or the restored monarchy over in Ethiopia.

Somalia I reckon would want it too since it would mean increased stability and giving them time to deal with internal problems and probably arrange for Americna investment.
 
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Happy New Year, everyone!

(It can't be worse than this one... Right?)

BTW hasn't it been too long already, since TTL!Ford pardoned someone? Maybe he's losing his touch! :p
 
"...the Ethiopian government, with several provinces now in collapse, effectively ceded the sham West Somali referendum to better focus on cracking down on the restive rebels, and infighting consumed the Derg, with several attempted coups threatening to explode in Addis during the spring even as the hinterlands plunged into bloodshed..."

- Cold War, Dark Continent

"...Barre was a hero to Somalia now, having grown the country's land by nearly 40% and put it on the path to realizing a Greater Somalia. This of course caused alarm in Kenya; the borderlands between their county and his were ethnically Somali, and with Kenyatta in steep decline (he would die within months without a clear successor) the government made furious calls to Britain demanding to know where London stood on the increasing coziness between Washington and Mogadishu..."

- Postcolonialism in East Africa: A Dissertation

"...we should point out that we obviously still weren't entirely sure if we could trust Barre. That he was publicly announcing a suspension of his friendship with the Soviets [1]
went over well on the seventh floor, but there was still some skepticism about this guy. He still seemed like a loose cannon, and we weren't thrilled about wars of conquest in the Third World, since that seemed like ripe ground for shenanigans..."

- Frank Carlucci, CIA Director 1978-1981


[1] Friendship with Leonid Brezhnev ended! Gerald Ford is my best friend now
No successor to Jomo? Where is Moi?
 
The Home Front
"...despite having the Canal Zone and much of central Panama under the control of the the Marines within weeks and aggressive Corps of Engineers investments to get the canal up and running again, the deployment of the post-Vietnam USMC and Navy within the Western Hemisphere polarized American society; a grassroots slogan, Not Another War!, became the rallying cry and soon led to a group called NAW - National Anti-War - which curiously had the same acronym. Much like Vietnam had split America down the middle, now so did the Panama intervention; resentment of "long-haired hippies and stoners" mobilized many conservative groups as well. That the economy suffered a severe supply shock in tandem, and that there was no draft this time, further complicated the lines along which people moved; the idea that "the people who brought you Watergate now bring you war and recession" was a potent message as Democrats jockeyed for influence with an eye towards the 1978 midterms and the 1980 election beyond..."

- Activism and the Seventies

"...the Panama Crisis was in many ways a godsend to the New Right; for Buckley, it gave him a platform that was visceral, clean and easy to take sides on. Of course America had a responsibility to crush Torrijos and Noriega like insects under a boot; that Cuba was involved and Nicaragua seemed to be in collapse only suggested a further potential domino effect in America. For Reagan, who had demagogued against dealing directly with Torrijos in negotiations, he took it as a sign that he had been right all along; more moderate Republicans, for their part, blamed Reagan and his legions of conservative activists for pressuring Ford and his team to walk away from Torrijos (Secretary of State Bush would dispute that characterization for the rest of his life). The brewing civil war within the party even extended down from the Cabinet and Capitol Hill to grassroots organizations, even those on college campuses; Young Americans for Freedom found its second wind and was more ideological, and less straightforwardly partisan, than the College Republicans. What seemed to be emerging was two strains of thought; of an established Republican Party, one tied more to the idea of politics as a big tent, and a conservative movement, which was more generally culturally encompassing and viewed partisan politics more as a vehicle than as a purpose. These views were often at crosswinds, despite many of the views shared; and at the center of the gale was Ronald Reagan..."

- Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Changed America [1]


"...that the Democrats were not in the White House like they had been in Vietnam made this a cleaner thing, one could say; NAW and Students for a Democratic Society were able to work hand in glove to protest the fighting and campaign for a "settled solution." Democratic leaders were wary of suggesting handing over the Canal to Panama now entirely for fear of seeming weak; much like activism was exploding on the right and complicating matters for the Ford administration, Democrats on Capitol Hill found it hard to articulate exactly what the end goal should be. For hawks like Henry Jackson, the answer was clear: Torrijos' head, although after a fair trial, of course. For others, it was more mealy-mouthed; radicals suggested the entire withdrawal from Latin America, while others suggested a power-sharing operation. Much as Ford was discovering, there were really no good options..."

- The Wilderness Years: The Democrats in the 1970s


[1] This actual title of a book about the 1980 campaign is chosen intentionally and, somewhat, ironically
 
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