POLITICS

The answer "is" very simple...

and indeed, it "could" set us free. One word: OIL.

We have it, and India doesn't. It's as simple as that! After the industrial revolution, energy sources became the most valuable commodity in the world -- and energy sources are still the most sought after commodity in the world. At one time (16th century), the Spaniards were looking for gold in the Americas, in the 20th cenury, however, the world empires were looking for black gold to fuel their expansions. 

India, at the start of the 20th century, lost its "primary" importance to 10 Downing Street. Central Asia, and specially the Persian Gulf region, took India's place as the all important geographic area to the British Empire, post discovery of OIL in Iran in 1908, by Knox D'Arcy, a Brit, which was the first oil discovery in the middle east.

This is primarily why the allies invaded Iran in the dead of night in 1941 -- they were deathly afraid that Nazi Germany would take over southern Iran and thus control access to the all-important Persian Gulf, which would thus literally fuel Hitler's ambitious military plans and jeapordize the established world order.

England, specially didn't want Iranian oil fields to end up in Germany's hands, after all of the expenses that the British had made in Abadan. Yes, the answer "can" set us free -- that's why I've been hoping for the last 30 years that some smart person or company will produce an alternative fuel source and make OIL irrelevant.

Oil is our CURSE!

It is the reason the IRI is still in power to this day! Democratic countries that have no oil to speak of, are held accountable to the people because they operate on a system of taxation. And when inept or corrupt politicians in western countries waste their citizen's tax dollars, they are almost always summarily held accounable and booted out of office!

However, in countries like Iran, where the government does NOT rely on a system of taxation to meet its expenses, and thus is NOT beholden and accountable to the people, corruption is the order of the day. Any time Iran (IRI) needs money, it can just drill a goddamn new hole into the ground and billions of dollars in black gold comes pouring out!

Thus, governments like the IRI have no compunction to be accountable to the people of Iran because they don't operate on the system of taxation. As such, they don't waste the people's hard-earned tax dollars (on the Palestians, for example) but rather, they waste an accidental economic benefit of geography.

Iranian people would be FAR more angry at the IRI if the mullahs were wasting Iranian people's hard-earned tax dollars on the Palestians or other shananigans, but as it is, they are by and large passive about such waste of Iran's natural resources, because in many ways it's like throwing away LOTTO money, because Oil, and having it, is purely a matter of luck, an accident of nature, that is wholly gained without any expendirture of hard work and intellect.

That's why Island countries like England and Japan are so much more advanced than countries that have oil, because the Japanese, for example, have had to EARN their survival! They literally have no natural resources on their island to speak of, but they have one of the most elite economies in the world -- as they say, necessity is the mother of all inventions. On the other hand, Iran has so many freaking natural resources, we've NEVER had to EARN our survival, specially in the last 100 years.

Any time we've needed money to build a school or a highway, all we've had to do drill for the resources, as we have a ready-made source of cash underground -- oil, natural gas, etc. We haven't had to sell treasury bonds or raise taxes to pay for our way, which would then make our leaders accountable to our wishes.

OIL is the answer, my friends! It is our greatest curse (actually, our second greatest curse, right after the curse of the shiite establishment)! So, instead of blaming eveybody else for our station in life, let's look into the mirror and figure out a way to make our leaders more accounable to us as a formidable, and all too dormantly talented people.

And Vildemose, thank you very much for the kind response.

Why Did India Succeed but We Failed?

Ramin Parsa wrote: “Iran had no standing whatsoever -- no real chips to play, no educated middle class, no military strength, no economy to speak of, no technological know-how, no political allies (ala China/Russia for the IRI) -- nothing and nothing! -- YET we were talking tough and dictating oil terms -- OIL TERMS!!! … This is nothing short of lunacy foreign policy, not patriotism. It's typical of our massively over-sized ego complex! “

Geographically not far from Iran and about the same time as Dr. Mossadegh was acting like a “lunatic” and “incompetent” prime minister, another country and another leader, Mahatma Gandhi, fought the same British empire and won their independence.

India was an occupied nation and a poor one for that matter also. Dr. Mossadegh prescribed the same anti-Colonialism and non-violent ideology as Gandhi did.

How come India has succeeded in becoming politically at least a pseudo-democracy, economically a world giant, militarily a nuclear nation, and generally a force to reckon with?

The answer to this question shall set us free…

Khomeini in 1978 asking for help from government of the world!

Khomeini in the interview believes that the peoples of the world, and the governments of the world, should step in and affect a regime change in Iran to save Iranians from Human Rights abuses and the tyranny of the regime. 

Ramin Parsa: wow, excellent

Ramin Parsa: wow, excellent and objective analysis. Well done. Please write your response as a blog.

Thank you.

And...

"In my humble opinion" (Gillani writes!)

Frankly, there's nothing "humble" about your opinions, Ms. Gillani.

Lastly... in 1952, Iran was only 6 YEARS removed from crushing occupation during WWII (UK, US, Russia), exactly the equivalent of today's Iraq.

Wouldn't it be politically INSANE (and suicidal for Nuri-al-Maliki) if tomorow morning Iraq starts talking tough, and dictating to the US (and to some extent the UK), as to what it can and cannot do vis-a-vis its oil industry -- oil being the most crucial and valuable energy source to the world economy?

My point is, it was not so much patriotism, but blind, irrational, even amateurish foreign policy. Mossadegh's cousins, Vossough-e-Dowle and Ahmad Ghavam were far more politically savvy.  Iran had no standing whatsoever -- no real chips to play, no educated middle class, no military strength, no economy to speak of, no technological know-how, no political allies (ala China/Russia for the IRI) -- nothing and nothing! And YET we were talking tough and dictating oil terms -- OIL TERMS!!! -- to not only the biggest dying Empire in the world, one which the sun famously never set upon, but also inviting a suicidal confrontation with the most powerful Empire on the horizon with the most appetite for oil the world has ever seen, the United States of America. 

And for all intense and purposes, we were the Zimbabwe of Asia, only six years removed from the devastation of humiliating occupation, with our entire economy in utter shambles, and here we were in 1952 trying to go mano-a-mano, toe-to-toe with freaking England and America (with no present-day China or Russia to rely upon)!

This is nothing short of lunacy foreign policy, not patriotism. It's typical of our massively over-sized ego complex! Case in point, present-day Ahmadinejad, or even the Shah, post-1973. 

Mossadegh's legacy has no doubt been intentionally laced with romanticism and idealism (read: wishful thinking) by his massively diluted supporters, but in real terms, his basis in reason, or lack there of, in dealing with our seemingly hereditary tormentors can only be described objectively as grossly reckless first, extremely irrational second, borderline lunacy third, and last and certainly least, patriotic.

Patriotism that costs so dearly for a nation is not really patriotism per se, but rather, something far more akin to national suicide.  FACT: the UK and the US were NOT going to allow Iran to nationalize its oil fields in 1953, no way, no how! -- and Mossadegh irrationally played with fire when he squeezed, and ultimately, forced England's greedy hand. As such, the coup that ultimately ousted Mossadegh from power, was, if rationally considered, a very foreseeable tragedy, in large part due to Mossadegh's own political incompetence, not patriotism. 

A perdictably BIASED, stale article

Where does one start!

"the ousted prime minister’s mandate is very much alive. It boils in our veins and feeds our fury; it has become the central theme of popular resentment towards the transgressions of the Western powers."

The coup would not have been successful BUT FOR the massive assistance from Ayatollah Kashani and his Fedayoun-e-Islam, and the irratrional tactics of Tudeh communists. We Iranians are masters of the blame game. How about looking in the mirror and seeing what we were back then, thanks to a 1,000 years of Islamic brainwashing... a backward, superstititious Shiite nation that, even as of the fall of 1978, was raptly marveling at mullah Khomeini's ugly face on the moon!

Give me a freaking break!

I grew up in a household that worshipped Mossadegh and whispered hateful words against the Shah. So, R2-D2, I'm no monarchist!  But as I grew up and educated myself, I realized that Mossadegh was nothing more than a monumental shooloog-kon, a rabble-rouser!

And he was an amateur politician. How could he think that America would come to his rescue in his fight against the British? There are state department files that show how oil company executives had expressed great disdain at nationalization of Iranian oil. They rightly feared that if Iran nationalized its oil, Saudi Arabia would be next, then Venezuela. The oil domino theory. Indeed, they rather see Iran go communist than nationalize its oil.

And yet, this 73-year-old rookie prime minister thought that he could somehow curry favor with the democratic administration (even though he should've seriously considered the fact that 1951-1952 was an election year and Truman was a lame-duck president). 

This is not about selling Iran to America. This is about reason and rational thinking! Sometimes when you're weak you should accept your short-comings and fight another day, when you're stronger and more capable. For Mossadegh to challenge the two BIGGEST superpowers in the world, specially England, which desperately needed cheap oil to rebuild its country after the devastation of Nazi bombings during WWII, at a time when Iran was no more than a fiscally, socially and politically backward third-world nation, was nothing short of lunacy, self-dillusion and reckless endangerment.

In reality, we didn't even have the expertise and technological know-how to man our own oil fields at that time, so what kind of "nationalization" was it really? 

And in this tragically unfair fight, the Shah had no decent cards to play -- he was damned if he participated in the coup and damned it he didn't. The US and UK were dead-set on the idea of Mossadegh's removal -- with or without the Shah. In fact, when they sensed hesitancy in the Shah, the CIA pursued the possibility of restoring the Qajar dynasty, but were persuaded by the British to stick with the Pahlavi king, specially after they discovered that the last Qajar Prince in line to succeed the Peacock Throne could not even speak Persian!

Dr. Mosadegh had too much integrity !

Ms. Gillani,

First of all I must say, a great article, thank you.  I would like however, to bring up a couple of points. 

1)  The U.S. by its nature and vast business intersts in their partnership with Britain, would never have sided with Dr. Mosadegh or any other "3rd World Country".  This is especially true with republicans (i.e. Ike).  Therefore, I agree completely with you that Iran can only be freed in the true meaning of the word by its own accord, we are on our own as far as taking back our rights, and notice I said "Taking" our rights, not waiting for it to be given to us, by U.S. or anyone else.

2)  Dr. Mosadegh, a truely honorable man of principle, in my humble opinion had too much integrity, at least for that period of history in Iran.  At some point, and I believe that point was immediately after the kidnapping and subsequent assasination of General Afshar Toos, he should have come down hard on the opposition's agents and thugs.  Coloenl Nasiri, should have been tried publicly and quickly and summarily executed to set an example for the other traitors.  General Zahedi, Ayatollah Kashani, Rashidian Brothers, Shaban Jafari, and Kermit Roosevelt should have all been investigated by state police and arrested on charges of treason along with Toodeh Party's Central Leadership Cadre.

3)  You mention, some opposition groups that condone military interfernce with Iran's internal affairs, I don't believe any of the real players (Read Iranians inside Iran) think that.  This may be an opinion shared by some of our fellow Persian-Americans, but as I said, not by the real players.

4)  In Iran there now exists the unique opportunity of ridding the country of IRI and even ultimately accomplishing the Islamic Rennaisence, which is the only way to truely shed the bondage of superstition and rleigious ignorance and fanatisism from our beloved fatherland.

Thanks again for your informative article.

 Payandeh Iran, our Ahuraie Fatherland.

ترجیح می‌دادم

"مصدق ایران را فدای خوشنامی خود کرد."

چطور؟ نمیفهمم چطور و برای چه دلیلی مصدق ایران را فدای خوشنامی خود کرد. خواهش میکنم توضیح بدهید.

Anglophile

Speaking of common sense, this is my take:

مصدق ایران را فدای خوشنامی خود کرد. 

Two Dictatorships

Anglophile wrote: “Interestingly the author of this blog has briefly touched on the indifference and disinterest shown by the nation towards the passing of Mosaddeq. But what she has missed, perhap purposefully, is that there was no massive reaction or national protest at the time of the coup and against the coup leaders.”

The fact that Iranians didn’t mourn Dr. Mossadegh’s passing is only an indication that our nation lived under the stranglehold of a dictatorship at the time. Even today, the regime of mullahs has not permitted (but miserably failed to stop) public gatherings to observe the anniversary of his death.

Although sociologists have studied numerous revolutions and uprisings, no one can accurately predict the conditions under which the masses revolt or choose to remain quiet. Nonetheless, Dr. Mossadegh and his legacy have endured the oppression and propaganda of two eras:

Neither the Shah nor the mullahs have been able to erase him from our nation’s consciousness.

A study in "Romance"

All that is stated in this blog and its ensuing comments is but a romantic view of a classic knight errant, in this case, Mosaddeq. We are invited to believe that American view of the events were  authenticated and are verifiable. We are persuaded to agree that certain comments are facts and not opinions.

I am not a historian nor am I in the business of re-writing history. But I never accept, at face value, the one sided account bya foreign power whose present and past records remain shrouded in secrecy and deceit. The coup of 1953 had two sides to it: foreign interest and domestic disinterest. The same argument can be applied to the revolution of 1979. The people's factor is ignored in all the analyses here. 

Interestingly the author of this blog has briefly touched on the indifference and disinterest shown by the nation towards the passing of Mosaddeq. But what she has missed, perhap purposefully, is that there was no massive reaction or national protest at the time of the coup and against the coup leaders. Iran of 1953 was not Chile of 1973. There were no mass arrests or mass executions in the aftermath of the coup in Iran. Mohammad Mosaddeq was no Salvador Allede. 

This is not an opinion. This is common sense.

R2-D2

You are absolutely right sir, and as I said before I am glad to see you here. 

Mossadegh’s Handwritten Will

Ali A Parsa wrote: "I wondered whether it was Dr. Mossadegh's wish to be buried in his home. I do not think you mentioned what his wish was for his resting place."

Dr. Mossadegh wished to be buried in the Freedom Cemetery where the fallen from the uprising of 30 Tir were buried. You can read his handwritten will by following this link:

//www.mohammadmossadegh.com/biography/will/

Dr. Mossadegh's wishes

Thanks Ms. Laleh Gilani for your article on this great man and your unique insight in relating it to our contemporay history. I wish you wrote more of these.

In the meantime, I wondered whether it was Dr. Mossadegh's wish to be buried in his home. I do not think you mentioned what his wish was for his resting place. I was a high school student in Tehran and Dr. Mo was my hero. His spirit still lives with me no matter what was done to him and where he is buried. That is the biggest proof of the greatnesss of a man.

khody

Behnamjan

Thank you for your very kind words.

I would like to caution you on one thing:

In the past, whenever there has been an article on Dr. Mossadeq, and the 1953 coup, the Monarchists in general, and the supporters of Mohammad Reza Shah in particular, have tried their very best to re-write history by leaving outlandish remarks in the commentary section!

If such a thing happens for this article, I would like to encourage you, and other fair-minded people, to strongly challenge them! Please ask them to provide you with primary source references which have been both authenticated, and that are also available and accessible!

Thanks,

R2-D2

P.S. I would like to re-emphasize that the account of events given in my comment below, could be fully and completely verified by authenticated documents. Again, these are the facts of the case, and not opinions!

Excellent commentary R2-D2

Your comments on the late Doctor Mossadegh, the great leader of Iran are even better, more documented and more realistic than the article itself! We are proud to have such iranians like you sir. 

Laleh

The biggest mistake that Dr. Mossadeq ever made during his tenure as the Prime Minister of our Beloved Iran was his Trusting Of The Americans Too Much!

You have to understand the thinking of Dr. Mossadeq at that time: In those days, Britain was considered the foremost colonial empire. I am sure that you remember the phrase The sun never sets on the British Empire from those days!

Dr. Mossadeq detested the preposterous colonialism of the British - Furthermore, the Americans were not the Imperialist Power that they became later on.

When Dr. Mossadeq came to U.S., he was very warmly received by both President Truman, and his Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Both of them, publicly and privately, vehemently expressed their disdain for the British ambition of perpetuating their colonial empire.

When Dr. Mossadeq shut down the British embassy in Tehran, many of his close advisors told him to do the same with  the American Embassy - The very embassy on Takht-e-Jamshid Ave!

However, he told them that the Americans did not believe in the Imperialistic ambitions, as British did, and that their view of the World was totally different!

As we know, that was a huge error in judgment! As history indicates, when Harry Truman was replaced by Eisenhower, and Dean Acheson with John Foster Dulles, and in Britain, when Clement Athlee was replaced with the re-elected Winston Churchill, the whole ball game changed! As you may know, Kermit Roosvelt, the grandson of Teddy Roosvelt, was sent to Iran by Allen Dulles, the Director of CIA, and the brother of John Foster Dulles, to undermine Dr. Mossadeq's government!

In the very basement of U.S. Embassy on Takht-e-Jamshid Ave. in Tehran, the very embassy that Dr. Mossadeq's advisors had told him to shut down, the scheme of his undermining was hatched. People such as General Zahedi and his son Ardeshir, as interpreter, were also present!

Of course, there were people on the outside such as Ayatollah Kashani and Shaboun Jaffari, etc. who were involved in this unconscionable treachery!

You need to understand one other thing: All the material that I have discussed above, are based upon authenticated CIA documents that have been released through the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) in the past twenty (20) years in U.S. - These are facts, and not opinions!

There is one other thing that you need to understand: The coup d'etat in Iran emboldened CIA to such a degree that they orchestrated similar things in Guatamela, Congo, Chile, etc. later on!

One final thing that I would like to express to you on a personal note: Dr. Mossadeq Will Go Down In Iranian History As One Of The Greatest Patriots Of The Twentieth Century! Although he did not achieve the goal of making Iran independent, nevertheless, his ideals still live on - in the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters both in Iran and abroad!

Sincerely,

R2-D2

P.S. Unfortunately, Dr. Mossadeq came about a hundred years too early in our Beloved Iran! The Iranians at the time, were neither ready, nor perhaps deserving of such a leader!

Ari

On a previous exchange on the same subject I showed you Americans asked for French help against their opposition, some “domestic”.

You might see the same thing here with Mossadegh asking for loan from U.S. and or wanting to sell oil to her was for domestic opposition that is where they finally got him with money in the hands of his opposition. How much did the Rashidian brothers spend?

You on the other hand have to show one case where without any help a barbaric regime was overthrown by its victims.

Fred, to draw a parallel...

Very good blog and

Very good blog and discussion. We should have had it 20 years ago and get over it.

Laleh

What caused or did not cause Mossadegh demise has become a cottage industry. Over the years I’ve read at least two dozen books and many more articles on the subject all emphasizing different reasons.

My question/point was, in your article you intimated people who advocate for help from America are; well you know what you wrote. Mossadegh did just that and unfortunately was unsuccessful at getting it.

We can imagine what would have happened if he had gotten American backing and successfuly fended off the British, but that is  paa manghali talk.

Anyway, interesting point of view and love your prose. Take care.

Gandhi & Mossadegh

Fred wrote: "Are you saying Mossadegh did not ask for American help? Or are you calling his documented repeated attempts at it a mistake?"

Dr. Mossadegh’s downfall is attributed to many factors one of which was, as you correctly mentioned, “homegrown treachery.”

In my humble opinion, Dr. Mossadegh was a student of Gandhi’s anti-colonialism and non-violent approach. This latter characteristic shaped his political actions and decisions to the degree that caused his demise.

As the Prime Minister of our nation, Dr. Mossadegh had every right and duty to engage in political talks and negotiations with any and all foreign powers. What distinguished Dr. Mossadegh’s approach was the vigor with which he blocked the imperial ambitions of any foreign government. If he had caved in and sold our nation to America, he would have stayed in power…

Laleh

Just to be clear,

 Are you saying Mossadegh did not ask for American help? Or are you calling his documented repeated attempts at it a “mistake”?

Are you saying if he were successful at his repeated attempts we would have been worst off?  How come Americans were not after receiving substantial help from French in their struggle against the British?

Those of us who are students of Iranian history know what a sharp politician Mossadegh was and know well the only reason he lost his epic battle was due to homegrown treachery.

The Oppressor & the Oppressed

Fred wrote: "Mossadegh, the quintessential icon of what an Iranian should be did and unfortunately failed to garner American help, both material and moral help..."

Dr. Mossadegh did make a few mistakes in his struggle to secure our freedom and rights, and because of those mistakes, his dream never materialized. However, his political independence and his patriotic convictions to that independence wasn’t one of them. He is revered by friend and foe to this day for his strength of character and patriotism.

Reading your comment, I couldn’t help but remembering the words of American Founding Fathers in their struggle against the British imperial domination: There could be no “separate but equal station” amongst the oppressor and the oppressed.

The United States of America is an imperial power whose interests are mutually exclusive from the interests of our nation. To secure American help to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran is to sell our nation and its future to America’s imperial ambitions.

At a minimum, we will be an oppressed nation serving and feeding America’s energy and defense industry for generations to come.

History v. idealism

Only if history was so easily subservient to idealism all our problems would have been solved long ago.  

Mossadegh, the quintessential icon of what an Iranian should be did and unfortunately failed to garner American help, both material and moral help in his single handed fight against the British. It is all a matter of historical records.