Explanation of "Mideast Scorecard" editorial cartoon

Factual Questions
#1

For some reason, today I remember something that ran in one of the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year books (it must’ve been 1991). Don’t remember who did it. Except for pictures of the nations’ leaders, it’s more or less as I’ve put it here.

MIDEAST SCORECARD
IRAQ
[DEL]GOOD GUY[/DEL]
BAD GUY

IRAN
[DEL]BAD GUY[/DEL]
[DEL]GOOD GUY[/DEL]
BAD GUY

SYRIA
[DEL]BAD GUY[/DEL]
GOOD GUY

JORDAN
[DEL]GOOD GUY[/DEL]
[DEL]BAD GUY[/DEL]
[DEL]GOOD GUY[/DEL]
BAD GUY

I understood it as a nice little indictment of our shortsighted and almost embarrassingly ham-handed Mideast policies. Unfortunately, as I myself was unfortunately not very politically attuned at the time, I was hard-pressed to recall any specifics.

Iraq’s the easy one. We sided with Iraq against Iran in their war, then radically changed our tune after the Kuwait invasion. (Why, I’m still not sure, but that’s another topic.) Iran’s a bit puzzling, as even after the invasion, I don’t think there ever was any specific time we considered them a “good guy”. I’m vaguely aware of attempts to appease Syria but don’t have any details. Jordan, I’m completely clueless.

Anyone care to spell this out? Please be as specific as possible, provide links, etc. I was really curious about this then, and I’d still like to know now.

Please do not turn this into a debate about Mideast politics. (Good Flying Spaghetti Monster almighty, DO NOT turn this into a debate about Mideast politics.) Just what events/attitudes/policy changes/grandstanding slipped under my radar.

#2

If it dates from 1991, shortly after the end of the Gulf War, it makes sense:

Iran: good guy as of six years before, for helping the US arm terrorists (Iran-Contra). More recently: good guy because Iraq had become bad guy, and Iran had bled Iraq up to 1988. After the end of the Gulf War, bad guy again.

Syria: good guy for having been part of the anti-Iraq coalition in the Gulf War.

#3

Okay, that makes sense, thanks. I’m guessing that Syria’s original “bad guy” status had to do with supporting/appearing to support terrorism.

Anyone care to elaborate on Jordan?

#4

Well, in the gulf war, Jordan supported Iraq, and we cut off aid, so they were the bad guy there.

Before that, they kicked out the PLO? Good guys then?

Before that, they helped the PLO and invaded Israel? Bad guys then?

#5

I would have thought the Iran timeline was earlier - bad when they were electing Mossadegh and nationalizing the oil industry, good under the Shah, and bad again following the Revolution.