Originally Posted by MrRelevant

Source: The New York Times, Editorial

August 15, 1953

The world has so many trouble spots these days that one is apt to pass over the odd one here and there to preserve a little peace of mind. It would be well, however, to keep an eye, on Iran, where matters are going from bad to worse, thanks to the machinations of Premier Mossadegh.

Some of us used to ascribe our inability to persuade Dr. Mossadegh of the validity of our ideas to the impossibility of making him understand or see things our way. We thought of him as a sincere, well-meaning, patriotic Iranian, who had a different point of view and made different deductions from the same set of facts. We now know that he is a power-hungry, personally ambitious, ruthless demagogue who is trampling upon the liberties of his own people. We have seen this onetime chamption of liberty maintain martial law, curb freedom of the press, radio, speech and assembly, resort to illegal arrests and torture, dismiss the Senate, destroy the power of the Shah, take over control of the army, and now he is about to destroy the Majlis, which is the lower house of Parliament.

His power would seem to be complete, but he has alientated the traditional ruling classes — the aristocrats, landlords, financiers and tribal leaders. These elements are anti-Communist. So is the Shah and so are the army leaders and the urban middle classes. There is a traditional, historic fear, suspicion and dislike of Russian and the Russians. The peasants, who make up the overwhelming mass of the population, are illiterate and nonpolitical. Finally, there is still no evidence that the Tudeh (Communist) party is strong enough or well enough organized, financed and led to take power.

All this simply means that there is no immediate danger of a Communist coup or Russian intervention. On the other hand, Dr. Mossadegh is encouraging the Tudeh and is following policies which will make the Communists more and more dangerous. He is a sorcerer’s apprentice, calling up forces he will not be able to control.

Iran is a weak, divided, poverty-stricken country which possesses an immense latent wealth in oil and a crucial strategic position. This is very different from neighboring Turkey, a strong, united, determined and advanced nation, which can afford to deal with the Russians because she has nothing to fear — and there the West has nothing to fear. Thanks largely to Dr. Mossadegh, there is much to fear in Iran.

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He was a scourge to his people.
US was worried about communism.
UK was furious over oil nationalization.

Originally Posted by BigRed

I'll concede to this point.

America has made some of the greatest acheivments mankind has ever seen.

But on the other hand, America has participated in a lot of bad crap that most people choose to not accept as fact or simply ignore all together and regard the US as infallible with their doctrine of nationalism.

Originally Posted by MasTequila

A lot of posts that have proved nothing. I will stop asking you for links. But based on your reading material and lack of ability to filter through, I now understand your position.

Originally Posted by frodly

I agree with you about the oil nationalization. That is why he was overthrown! An editorial is not an acceptable historical source! And as I said mosaddeq was democratically elected! That article did nothing to disprove that, so what was the point of it? That we deposed a democratically elected leader who was anti-west for curbing liberties, and replaced him with a pro-west dictator who curbed liberty?

Originally Posted by Tuatara

Are you denying this events happened? Even the US Government doesn't deny them.

You have been served.

Originally Posted by Tuatara

Are you denying this events happened? Even the US Government doesn't deny them.
.

Originally Posted by MasTequila

He was elected to Prime Minister and the Shah ran the country, before he was elected and after he was dead.

Originally Posted by frodly

If he had no power, why depose him? Think about it, what you are saying makes no sense!

Originally Posted by MasTequila

No he had power given to him by the shah. When he decided to try to overthrow the shah and had built a following it took force to get rid of him. He clerics wanted him out, a large portion of the people wanted him out, the shah wanted him out and we helped take him out.