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Thread: US quietly publishes once-expunged papers on 1953 Iran coup

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    US quietly publishes once-expunged papers on 1953 Iran coup


    Time 1951 Man of the Year Mohammed Mossadeq

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Once expunged from its official history, documents outlining the U.S.-backed 1953 coup in Iran have been quietly published by the State Department, offering a new glimpse at an operation that ultimately pushed the country toward its Islamic Revolution and hostility with the West.

    The CIA's role in the coup, which toppled Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh and cemented the control of the shah, was already well-known by the time the State Department offered its first compendium on the era in 1989. But any trace of American involvement in the putsch had been wiped from the report, causing historians to call it a fraud.

    The papers released this month show U.S. fears over the spread of communism, as well as the British desire to regain access to Iran's oil industry, which had been nationalized by Mosaddegh. It also offers a cautionary tale about the limits of American power as a new U.S. president long suspicious of Iran weighs the landmark nuclear deal with Tehran reached under his predecessor.

    It exposes "more about what we know about this milestone event in Middle East history and especially U.S.-Iran history. This is still such an important, emotional benchmark for Iranians," said Malcolm Byrne, who has studied Iran at the non-governmental National Security Archive at George Washington University. "Many people see it as the day that Iranian politics turned away from any hope of democracy."

    The 1,007-page report , comprised of letters and diplomatic cables, shows U.S. officials discussing a coup up to a year before it took place. While America worried about Soviet influence in Iran, the British remained focused on resolving a dispute over the nationalization of the country's oil refinery at Abadan, at the time one of the world's largest. Many also feared further instability following the 1951 assassination of Premier Ali Razmara.

    "Nationalization of the oil industry possibly combined with further assassinations of top Iran officials, including even the shah, could easily lead to a complete breakdown of the Iran government and social order, from which a pro-Soviet regime might well emerge leaving Iran as a satellite state," one undated CIA analysis from the report warned.

    Out of that fear grew TPAJAX, the CIA codename for the coup plot. Papers show the CIA at one point "stockpiled enough arms and demolition material to support a 10,000-man guerrilla organization for six months," and paid out $5.3 million for bribes and other costs, which would be equivalent to $48 million today. One CIA document casually refers to the fact that "several leading members of these (Iranian) security services are paid agents of this organization."

    The CIA also described hoping to use "powerfully influential clergy" within Shiite Iran to back the coup, something that would be anathema by the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It offers no definitive proof of that, though several documents show American officials in contact with Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani, an anti-British leader in the Iranian parliament who turned against Mosaddegh.

    The agency faced problems, however, chief among them Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi himself. Diplomats and spies referred to him as a "weak reed" and "petulant."

    "His inability to take decisions coupled with his tendency to interfere in political life has on occasions been (a) disruptive influence," the U.S. Embassy in Tehran warned in February 1953. Ultimately, his twin sister Princess Ashraf and a U.S. general helped convince him.

    Mosaddegh was tipped off about the coup, and it appeared doomed as the shah fled to Baghdad and later Italy. But protests supporting the shah, fanned in part by the CIA, led to Mosaddegh's fall and the monarch's return.

    The report fills in the large gaps of the initial 1989 historical document outlining the years surrounding the 1953 coup in Iran. The release of that report led to the resignation of the historian in charge of a State Department review board and to Congress passing a law requiring a more reliable historical account be made...snip more: https://apnews.com/5111167bcaf84892b01eea93eea4bc01

    Report: https://history.state.gov/historical...rus1951-54Iran



    Guess who trained the Iranian Secret Police (SAVAK)?



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    They hate us for our freedoms!

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by afwjam View Post
    They hate us for our freedoms!
    But if we say we don't like them, they lose no sleep over that, and if we want to fight them, they'll send a rocket up our a$$:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYRUcsq2tmc


    At least they had the decency to thank good old uncle ollie north, though:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQgoIHkFcY


    Perhaps that this has held up so nicely for 30 years as one of those obscure classics is the real nature of their revenge? And how could anyone possibly argue with that cover art showing the hookah-smoking ayatollah with that evil look on his face, lol? Not to mention the hours of amusement to be found within the lyric sheet!
    I have an autographed copy of Revolution: A Manifesto for sale. Mint condition, inquire within. (I don't sign in often, so please allow plenty of time for a response)

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