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Friday, March 04, 2005
Some more Iranian history for you right-wingers in denial:In 1953, under orders from President Eisenhower, the CIA organized a military coup that overthrew the government. Soon Mohammed Mossadegh was imprisoned and later placed under house-arrest for life. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, backed by the United States, took his place and held on to power for the next 25 years. The thriving democracy that existed in Iran was crushed.
On the economic front, the Shah denationalized Iran’s oil industry, 60% of which went to American firms. Politically, he was so brutally effective with his US-trained SAVAK secret police that almost all of the democratic and secular opposition was eliminated. When the revolution finally ousted the autocratic Shah in 1979, the new regime was soon dominated by hard-lined Islamists led by Ayatollah Khomeini.
For years, the US denied its involvement in the 1953 coup, but in 2000 the Clinton administration finally issued a statement that recognized the US role in the failure of democracy in Iran. In a speech before the American-Iranian Council in March 2000, then Secretary of State Madeline Albright admitted, “In 1953 the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran's popular Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. The Eisenhower Administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons; but the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development. And it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs.” Since Clinton's Secretary of State said so, it must be a lie, right you neo-cons?
Jack Clark 9:32 PM [+]
 
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