Thank the CIA for the Mullahs in Iran

The Wall Street Journal's December 22nd editorial has a few things to say about the Iranian regime. The mouthpiece of US imperialism is happy that there are rumblings from below and that the Mullahs are on the defensive somewhat.  The "perseverance of the so-called Green Movement is something to behold" says the Journal and it chides Obama somewhat for not supporting "Iran's Democrats." 


The editorial talks about the corruption that is "at the heart" of the Iranian system.  It also comments that "As in the waning days of the Shah in the late 70's, Iranians merely need an excuse to show what they think of their rulers."

This arrogance does not go unnoticed in Iran, the Middle East and the former colonial world in general.  The reason it can be said pretty much without comment here is that the vast majority of Americans have no idea of the dirty rotten role the US government has played in Iranian politics and daily life.  The average Wall Street Journal reader probably doesn't either, but they wouldn't care anyway. What is important is what the Journal doesn't say.

Left: The Shah of Iran: the US's man in Tehran.  Isn't he pretty?
The Shah referred to in the editorial was installed by the US after it overthrew the secular democratic and elected government  of Mohammad Mossadegh. in 1953.  This was the first time the United States overthrew a Middle Eastern government; the reason was that Iran wanted control of its own oil industry and nationalized it.  British capitalism was incensed at losing such a lucrative venture and urged the US to intervene.  Operation Ajax as the venture was called, had all the familiar trappings that surround the illegal activities of the US government today; bribery, murder, kidnapping and public disturbances organized by the CIA and its operatives sent there, particularly Kermit Roosevelt, FDR's grandson.
Kermit Roosevelt, CIA spy in Iran
The Shah 's regime drove all opposition underground that it didn't physically eliminate. I remember as a teenager seeing young Iranian students demonstrating in London against the torture and murder committed by the Shah's notorious secret police, the SAVAK. They often covered their faces to protect their families back home as retribution was swift and deadly.  The Shah spent much of the oil money on weapons bought from his friends in Washington and the secret police that suppressed dissent and tortured and murdered the opposition had the US government to thank for much of its funding.

Much of the opposition found sanctuary in the mosques and the religious fanatics in power today gained support given the waste, corruption and murder that was the hallmark of the Shah.

This history is pretty much ignored in the US obviously, as was the other coup at that time, the US government's overthrow in 1954, of the Guatemalan government led by, Jacobo Arbenz. The coup was orchestrated by the CIA much like the one in Iran. Like the Shah, the dictator the US supported this  time was  Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas.  Rather than acting on behalf of the oil industry, it was the United Fruit Company and other huge US conglomerates whose interests the US were protecting.

It is not surprising then that the Iranians and others throughout the former colonial world are a little suspicious of the US and Britain.  It must be quite a sickening experience for them to have to listen to Obama and the paid pimps on CNN and Fox talk about democracy and human rights.  The biggest obstacle to this in the Middle East has been the British and US governments.

The Iranian regime is a brutal theocracy run by a bunch of 7th century religious fanatics.  Osama bin Laden is not the only product of US foreign policy that has come back with a vengeance.  The overthrow of Iran's elected government by the US in 1953 and putting their puppet the Shah on the throne led to the rise of the Mullahs and the strengthening of Islamic fundamentalism worldwide.

A good book to read about the overthrow of Mossadegh by the US is Stephen Kinzers All The Shah's Men.