It's John Anderson's fault. After he went to the right, Regan lost the election and Carter's second term was marked by inaction over Afghanistan and a lack of support for Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War. Iran won with Soviet aid, giving the Soviets a warm-water port and control over the oil resources comming out of Saudi Arabia. The Communist victory in Yemmen was all too predictable, and after years of war a UAR seemed pretty nice. Jordan was willing to play along also. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Soviet Union blocked UN action, and our counterattack was halted by Iranian missile strikes that knocked out our aircraft carriers.