Slag: I think I know what you mean about Jimmy Carter - that he didn't stand up to Iran at the time. But I would say G.W Bush is one of the weakest US presidents ever. He does exactly what he is told by big business - the eminence grise(s) behind the White House. Rice and Cheney are by far the smarter and stronger characters (but, not, note nice caharcters by any means), but Bush makes the perfect mouthpiece - not too clever for his own good, a real 'yes' man.
By the way, if Iran had taken over the USA we'd all be rooting for the USA, and for it to have back its liberty. It's a good job they didn't succeed. But I suppose once they had secured their own country the way they wanted it, they left well alone. Having said that, the White House is like an elephant - never forgets - and it's a sore loser. So it bankrolled Saddam by billions of dollars on condition he punished Iran for them. Didn't matter what kind of undemocratic monster he was at home. He could pose as a champion of Islam all he wanted, but the White House knew that at heart he was a good old Mesopotamian Imperialist that spoke the same langauge as they.