Did Obama get anything right in his Al-Azhur speech yesterday.
Yes, the US instigated a coup against Iranian prime minister Mosaddeq but President Obama was wrong to assert that "the United States played a role in the overthrow of ademocratically elected Iranian government." Far from it, the US overthrew a wannabe dictator who came to power because his predecessor was assassinated by Islamists, yes Islamists and following an election he suspended for fear he would lose it. Does anyone in the administration have access to the Internet? I found this on a most obscure source known as Wikipedia:
In March 1951 the Shah appointed General Haj-Ali Razmara as prime minister. Four days later he was assassinated by Khalil Tahmasebi, a member of an Islamist terrorist groupFadayan-e Islam:
Fadā'iyān-e Islam (Persian: فدائیان اسلام), also spelled as Fadayan-e Islam or in English "Fedayeen of Islam" or "Devotees of Islam", was an Iranian Islamic fundamentalist or Islamic terrorist secret society founded in 1946, by "a charismatic" 22 year-old "theology student" named Navvab Safavi. Safavi sought to "purify Islam" in Iran by ridding it of `corrupting individuals` by means of carefully planned assassinations of certain leading intellectual and political figures.The Shah then APPOINTED Mosaddeq and the petrified "elected" Majlis (parliament) confirmed him. Apropos elections, in his book, Landlord and Peasant in Persia, Babak Khandani explains that members of the parliament were mainly landlords, who were elected by their peasants. "The most famous of this kind of politicians is Mohammad Mossadegh, a Qajar aristocrat and a chief landlord of his era."
But back to the "democratic elections." Mosaddeq's anti-Western policies made him popular in the urban areas, especially with leftist students. He was less so in the provinces. To improve the balance in his favor, he tried to disenfranchise the peasants by outlawing votes of illiterates (yes, literacy test!). The majlis defeated his "reform" bill. What did Mossadeq do? He organized a new elections but "stopped the voting as soon as 79 deputies – just enough to form a parliamentary quorum — had been elected." The urban areas votes first. He demanded that the Majlis state that there was "foreign" manipulation of the voting. It refused. The result?
The elections were postponed indefinitely and since the Majlis refused to tow his line, Mosaddeq ruled though "emergency powers."
Well, this is certainly a version of democratically elected government Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak would recognize but before the defender of the faith, Barack Hussein Obama, no American president would. It is a small wonder, Middle Eastern liberals were so disheartened by his speech. Clearly Obama threw them under the bus.
It does get more and more crowded under the Obama bus. In addition to his own grandmother, one can find there an increasing number of democratic American allies such asPoland, Czech republic, Israel, Germany, India and France. Trust me, he has only just begun. But US anti-democratic enemies could not be more delighted. His definition of democracy suits them just fine.
2 comments:
Yah, Mossadegh was a nationalizing socialist with SOME elective responsibility, and BTW the overthrow was the idea of the British who were about to see BP nationalized, and asked us for help. Which accounts for why the Mullahfreaks always remember to mention the UK in their threats.
For the foreseeable future I think their heritage rules out any John Jay, Madison or Hamilton's
And things have been just so great since 1979 anyway.
So Obama is just going to have to go ahead and re interview with Bob and Bob for that job
I would suggest taking a look at an actual scholarly source for your information. In the Iranian constitution of 1906, the Shah appointed and the Majlis confirmed, there was nothing nefarious about it. The Majlis also wasn't "petrified" either. The National Front, an alliance of Pan-Iranists, Pan-Islamists, Tudeh and Nationalists under the leadership of Mosaddeq had both great public support and great support within the Majlis itself. To somehow insinuate that Mosaddeq was involved in the assassination attempt is wholly wrong. The CIA and its operative Kermit Roosevelt, and the British Secret Intelligence Service orchestrated the events of the coup. I suggest you read All the Shah's Men by Kinzer, or even Kermit Roosevelt's own account for more information about this. Mossadeq's policies were not "anti-Western" in fact he was a great admirer of the United States and was western educated. His policies were directed against the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which you failed to mention in your post, not against the West. The conditions of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company greatly favoured Britain, with the Iranian government receiving ten percent of its in royalties while the British government received 30% of its profits in taxes. All the while the Iranians were living in slums in temperatures of over 100 degrees while the British enjoyed air conditioned amenities. Iran was only initially asking for better conditions for the Iranian workers of AIOC and the ability to see its books. When Britain refused, and ARAMCO signed a 50-50 agreement with the US, nationalization became a issue. Thus inciting Britain's ire. Your facts are wrong. I don't believe it is important that Obama apologizes, but I do believe it is ridiculous to assert the CIA wasn't involved.
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