Rebirth of a Realist

Rebirth of a Realist

"NO BLOOD FOR OIL."
Most popular sign carried all over the world during May, 2003 anti-war demonstrations.
At the end of World War II, American and British oil companies were once again fighting for control of the Iranian oil fields and giving Stalin another reason for deep concern. The Iran -Soviet border was long and treacherous. Stalin had already pulled his troops out of Iran in April of 1946, but his own very productive oil fields in Baku were near the Iranian border. With the western powers constantly fomenting revolution and discord in Iran, Stalin was understandably concerned. Aramco, Shell, Socony and other huge international oil companies were rushing to sign long- term contracts with the western supported, Iranian Government. For sixty years, the British plundered the Iranian oil fields by maintaining friendly sovereigns in power. After World War II, the people of Iran were calling for an end to what they referred to as British imperialist rule. Revolutionary forces led by Muhammad Mossadegh finallyover
threw the Western supported Government of Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlevi.
The Shah managed, with western help to escaped to Italy and the people of Iran seemed,
at last, to be in control of their own country, but when Mossadegh nationalized the rich oil fields, he signed his own fate. Mossadegh became Premier in 1951, and the first political
move he made was to present the Oil Nationalization Bill.
Responding to the seizure of the AIOC,(Anglo- Iranian Oil Company) the British government
anounced it would not allow Mossadegh’s government to export any oil produced in the formerly
British-controlled fields. A blockade of British ships was sent to prevent any attempts by Iran
to ship any oil out of the country. An economic problem for Iran was created,and an anormous
amount of revenue was lost, causing serious hardship for the people of Iran, as the British ships blocked any oil from Leaving Iran.
The US also immediately reacted .to the Oil Nationalization bill.
Attempts were made to overthrow Mossadegh’s Government, and after three failed attempts,
On August 19, 1953, members of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh’s National Movement of Iran
claimed the intelligence services of "U.S.A. and Britain (CIA - MI6) enforced a more precise
and expensive coup de’tat plan, and succeeded in overthrowing the government.
The Oil Nationalization bill was rendered moot.
These claims, of course, would not be hard for any Realist to believe. On that day, the coup makers
brought mobs into the streets to demonstrate against the national government of Dr. Mossadegh.
They reached the house of the Prime Minister, and entered the house. After plundering it, they
burned it. During the military trial of Dr. Mossadegh, he related for the press the details of
the coups, but the western press put their own spin on it, claiming the British developed the oil.
Mossadegh was found guilty of what his supporters called an "unknown crime." and ordered to
serve three years in an Iranian prison. The British and Americans brought back the Shah, but he
was still not welcomed by the people and repressive measures were enforced to prevent another
revolution.
Throughout the spring of 1963, Imam Khomeini continued to denounce the shah’s regime, and
the US. He pointed to Israel as a puppet of the US, and developed a huge following. The Shah had
to get rid of him and he was expelled to Iraq. Saddam Hussein, annoyed by the Shiite preaching
and political organizing under the Shiite religion expelled the Ayatollah to France. Following the
revolution that deposed Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi, for the second time, Khomeini returned triumphantly to Iran in 1979, declared an Islamic republic, and began to exercise ultimate Islamic
authority in the nation. This is the history that Mr Ahmadinejad President of Iran today was born into. in 1956. By 2006 he was already a well educated man with a PHD and a revolutionary who saw the west as an old enemy. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a good student but his history lessons
were written for him in the streets of Iran. Distrust and dislike of the Western Powers was bred into Ahmadinejad as it was bred into Fidel Castro.
Liberals in America were dead in the water. In the face of the enormous blast of hate generated by
the State Department through the mass media, Liberals who tried to explain the real situation in
Iran were shouted down and branded anti-American. I found that trying to explain it was literally
at one’s own risk. The media had whipped Americans into a frenzy of hate and Muslims were beaten
and forced to live in fear.
The conservative Shiite ideology of Khomeini opposed pro-Western tendencies. The West immediately began to demonize him. There was no way the West could again confiscate Iranian oil while Khomeini was in Power. Suspecting another western coup; on November 4, 1979, 3,000 Iranian militants took over the U.S. Embassy in Teheran. They held 54 embassy staff members as hostages. Ayatollah Khomeini totally supported them. They demanded that: the Shah, be tried for crimes against the people. Trying to pacify the revolutionaries, and develop a rapport with the people, the United States almost apologized for crimes against the Iranian people, and offered the Shah’s assets be paid to them.
The Washington Post reported: March 17,2000
"Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright will announce a major overture toward Iran today, promising steps toward the return of assets frozen since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, lifting a ban on imports of Iranian luxury goods and making it easier for Iranian academics and athletes to visit the United States. While stopping short of an apology, Albright will acknowledge past American meddling in Iran, including the CIA-backed coup that toppled Iran’s leftist prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, and restored its monarchy in 1953. She also will express regret for Washington’s "shortsighted" support of Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, according to an administration official who has read the speech."
Liberals saw this as a late and minor victory, knowing that the Savak, the Shah’s secrete police, was known to carry out many crimes. There were 61 SAVAK officials among 248 military personnel executed between February and September 1979, when the organization was officially dissolved by Khomeini. Khomeini supporters always claimed that the dreaded Savak was created with the help of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad. Realists wonder if any were trained at the School of the Americas.
At his death, June 5,1989. The Guardian added this to his epitaph.
"Ever since he (Khomeini) was swept back to Iran from exile in a demonstration of Iranian people power, railing against the United States as the ‘Great Satan,’ America’s most hated foreign leader tormented and frustrated successive American administrations."
Day after day western mass media hammered Khomeini with hate propaganda. Young people were wearing tee shirts showing a bomb dropping on his head. Government officials talked openly about, "taking out Khomeini." Yet, the Iranian leader made the West pay a high price.
President Jimmy Carter who looked tired and haggard as the hostage crisis dragged on for 14 months lost the confidence of the American people to solve the situation. His reelection chances slipped away as the Iranians thumbed their noses at every threat he made. He was defeated at the poles. As his opponent, and those behind him hammered way at Carter’s impotence Mr. Reagan promised that under his administration America would no longer be, " a pitiful giant. ". President Carter wrote in his biography, "Keeping the Faith," that he asked the Shah whether he could curb the human rights abuses in Iran. The Shah answered, "No, there is nothing I can do. I must enforce the Iranian laws, which are designed to combat communism."
At the UN the president of Iran was speaking from this history.
David Truskoff
www.erols.com/suttonbear
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