Doug wants to know what I consider to be the worst, most embarrassing episode in American history.
Okedokey. Here we go.
If America had tried harder to get through to this man, and Eisenhower had pulled in the reins on this dude and his covert op wet dreams, the Shah's son would likely be on the throne in Teheran; people would be saying "Ayatollah Who?"; fifty-three American hostages would never have been taken from an American Embassy that had never been overrun by religious zealots; America would still have an embassy in Teheran; and, most importantly, Iran would now not be threatening us all with their enriched uranium whimsies.
We, America, who pride ourselves on our democracy, overthrew a democratically elected government to keep the oil flowing for the Brits and to set up a more strategic Cold War position for ourselves, with a friendly Shah, who we'd, quite kindly, restored to power. As a result of this interference in Iranian domestic affairs, that same Shah, who was never really the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with, became quite paranoid and went on to become a repressive ruler who used his security forces to terrorize his subjects into submission. It's no wonder the Iranians turned to radical Islam for answers, because they certainly weren't getting any from us.
If that's not bad or embarrassing, I don't know what is.
It's also an instructive episode for it, really and truly, shows you what the CIA is capable of when it wants to get down to brass tacks. Of course this was the pre-Church Committee CIA, but still... In other words, thou moonbattiest of moonbats, when it comes to the War Against Terror, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Posted by Kathy at December 6, 2005 11:46 PM | TrackBack