50 yrs ago a CIA coup overthrew a democracy in Iran to install a dictator

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

quote :

There is nothing new in the world except
the history you do not know.

-- Harry Truman


------------------------------------------------


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EI03Ak01.html

Iran and the forgotten anniversary
By Arnold Oliver

from Foreign Policy in Focus


The talk of regime change in Iran that now fills the air in Washington is not new. Although very few Americans are aware of it, August of this year marked the 50th anniversary of a vital, yet little-known chapter in American foreign policy - a military coup against the elected leaders of Iran orchestrated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Before hostilities with Iran once again expand past the point of no return, we really ought to have the kind of informed, reasoned national debate that was so notably absent prior to the invasion of Iraq. In order to begin to do that, we will have to review the momentous events of 1953, and some of their far-reaching consequences. ...........
During the summer of 1953 - in an eerie parallel to today's events - a major crisis developed between Tehran and Washington. At that time Iran was an emerging democracy with elected leaders. Led by the popular premier Mohammad Mossadeq, it was embroiled in a conflict with the British over oil. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was owned by British interests and supported by the British government. In a grossly unequal colonial-style arrangement, the Iranians were not even allowed to examine the ledgers.

........Although the Truman government had been sympathetic to Iran, in 1953 the new Eisenhower administration accepted the British view that the Iranian regime had to go. On July 11, Dwight D Eisenhower secretly signed an order to overthrow Iran's young democracy. The die was cast.

On August 19, the US-orchestrated military coup emerged triumphant, and the exiled monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was installed on the Peacock Throne. A secret history of this CIA operation, written in 1954 by agent and participant Donald Wilber and leaked to the press a few years ago, leaves no doubt as to the central role played by the US.

more..............

[LoneStarLiberal]

1. Old Mossy

Can't let our current crop of policy makers get bogged down in messy details of history.

We are exceptional! History does not apply to us!

[IrateCitizen]

2. Why is this person focusing on ancient history?

I mean, none of this has anything to do with the way things are today, so why even bring it up? I'd actually say that this columnist obviously hates America by trying to smear and slander its noble ideals in such an underhanded way. </sarcasm>

:eyes: