quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn

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ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

So terrorists are cool as long as they are 'our' terrorists?

So you didn't read any of the articles, then.

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ORIGINAL: SoftBonds

Oh come on Tweak, it isn't like we prop up monarchies (dictatorships) in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It isn't like we provided significant military aid to Saddam Hussein, it isn't like we didn't overthrow a democratic government in Iran to put a Shah (dictator) in charge, leading to the Islamic revolution that is causing us so much trouble...

I mean, gosh, if that had happened, the only thing that would make sense for us would be to stop all the foreign policy "realpolitik," and only support democracies.

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ORIGINAL: SoftBonds
Oh come on Tweak, it isn't like we prop up monarchies (dictatorships) in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It isn't like we provided significant military aid to Saddam Hussein, it isn't like we didn't overthrow a democratic government in Iran to put a Shah (dictator) in charge, leading to the Islamic revolution that is causing us so much trouble...

I mean, gosh, if that had happened, the only thing that would make sense for us would be to stop all the foreign policy "realpolitik," and only support democracies...

quote:

ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

quote:

ORIGINAL: Edwynn

quote:

ORIGINAL: tweakabelle

So terrorists are cool as long as they are 'our' terrorists?

So you didn't read any of the articles, then.

I did read the links actually. Not that I discovered anything in them that I didn't already know.

The issue I am drawing attention to is that the US is training people it designates "terrorists", not the nature of the Iranian government, no matter how reprehensible that govt may be. The US is just as likely to undermine democratically elected govts whenever it perceives it to be in the US's interests.

Clearly, such behaviour has implications for the so-called 'War on Terror'.

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1952: Mosaddeq Nationalization of Iran’s Oil Industry Leads to Coup
Edit event

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year cover for 1951.Time Magazine’s Man of the Year cover for 1951. Iranian President Mohammad Mosaddeq moves to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in order to ensure that more oil profits remain in Iran. His efforts to democratize Iran had already earned him being named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for 1951.

After he nationalizes it, Mosaddeq realizes that Britain may want to overthrow his government, so he closes the British Embassy and sends all British civilians, including its intelligence operatives, out of the country. Britain finds itself with no way to stage the coup it desires, so it approaches the American intelligence community for help.

Their first approach results in abject failure when Harry Truman throws the British representatives out of his office, stating that "We don’t overthrow governments; the United States has never done this before, and we’re not going to start now." After Eisenhower is elected in November 1952, the British have a much more receptive audience, and plans for overthrowing Mosaddeq are produced. The British intelligence operative who presents the idea to the Eisenhower administration later will write in his memoirs, "If I ask the Americans to overthrow Mosaddeq in order to rescue a British oil company, they are not going to respond. This is not an argument that’s going to cut much mustard in Washington. I’ve got to have a different argument.…I’m going to tell the Americans that Mosaddeq is leading Iran towards Communism." This argument wins over the Eisenhower administration, who promptly decides to organize a coup in Iran (see August 19, 1953). [Stephen Kinzer, 7/29/2003]

Entity Tags: Dwight Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman, Muhammad Mosaddeq

Timeline Tags: US-Iran (1952-1953)

Category Tags: Covert/Clandestine Operations

http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=us_plans_to_use_military_force_against_iran