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Blowback is the espionage term for unintended consequences of a covert operation that are suffered by the civil population of the aggressor government. To the civilians suffering the blowback of covert operations, the effect typically manifests itself as “random” acts of political violence without a discernible, direct cause; because the public—in whose name the intelligence agency acted—are ignorant of the effected secret attacks that provoked revenge (counter-attack) against them.[1] Specifically, blowback denotes the resultant, violent consequences—reported as news fact, by domestic and international mass communications media, when the actor intelligence agency hides its responsibility via media manipulation.
In 1953, the United States CIA led by one of President Theodore Roosevelt’s grandsons, initiated a coup in Iran (Operation Ajax)[8] to remove the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. The Iranian government was understandably dissatisfied with the terms of its contract with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company that allowed British interests to claim 85% of the oil profit from Iran.[9] Iran voted to nationalize the oil industry in 1951 after the British declined to renegotiate the terms. The US-led coup was successful, and the royal monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,[10] became virtual dictator. Fearing popular reprisal, Pahlavi’s government was supported by the CIA in creating the Iranian SAVAK, a vicious secret police for the Shah’s dictatorial government.[11] We can only assume that the oil revenue sharing agreement with the Shah was acceptable to the US and UK.
Under the Eisenhower administration, the US cooperated with the Shah’s government for the development of Iranian nuclear energy through the “Atoms for Peace” program.[12] President Ford agreed to US full cooperation to help Iran build about two dozen nuclear energy plants. When the Iranian people overthrew the Shah’s government in 1979, the US stopped cooperating. The US backed Iraq in their invasion of Iran in 1980 and throughout the war until 1988, seeking a more US-friendly Iranian government. The US provided Saddam Hussein with the chemical and biological weapons the W. Bush administration later used as justification for invading Iraq.[13] Since 1979, the US has worked to prevent Iran having a nuclear energy program, even under the legal provisions of the NPT, and reneged on a multi-billion dollar contract to deliver nuclear fuel to Iran without refunding Iran’s money.[14]
WHEN the Central Intelligence Agency helped overthrow Mohammed Mossadegh as Iran's prime minister in 1953, ensuring another 25 years of rule for Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, the C.I.A. was already figuring that its first effort to topple a foreign government would not be its last.
The C.I.A., then just six years old and deeply committed to winning the cold war, viewed its covert action in Iran as a blueprint for coup plots elsewhere around the world, and so commissioned a secret history to detail for future generations of C.I.A. operatives how it had been done. The history, which remains classified, was recently obtained by The New York Times; excerpts were published this spring and a more complete version is now available on the Times Web site (www.nytimes.com).
Originally posted by GLontra
Very informative thread, thanks...
It's a long history of "bully" against the Iranian people...
Iran was a democracy in 1953. The CIA ruined it...
Originally posted by gladtobehere
I would imagine that most people on ATS are aware of the US government's history with regards to overthrowing governments and its support for dictators.
Originally posted by thoughtsfull
Surprising that you missed out the Anglo-Soviet invasion in 1941 said *cough* to prevent the Nazis getting the oil and open up the Persian corridor (supply route) to Russia...
en.wikipedia.org...
Although allied, both nations (Britain and Russia) have been bumping heads over Iran (Persia) for quite some time before that point, and indeed there was a lot of bumping heads getting Russia to leave Iran in 1946 as promised, which sparked the Iran Crisis of 1946
en.wikipedia.org...
So IMHO when the whole picture is viewed all the big players have been and still are playing games with each other and the Iranian people are caught bang smack in the middle.edit on 9/1/12 by thoughtsfull because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by thoughtsfull
reply to post by GLontra
Yes, the British and Soviets invaded Iran in 1941 where responsible for dethroning the existing Shah and installing the Shahs son.
If those things hadn't happened then perhaps Mosaddegh would not have had the view he did when he came to power, and the Iran crisis was one of the first stages in the Cold War, which sets the tone for what was to come.
All these things play into the mix to create the situation, and I don't believe you can extract one from the other, since the whole demonstrates how caught in the middle the Iranian people are.
edit on 9/1/12 by thoughtsfull because: adding 19 in front of 41 and a little clarity to my thoughts
Originally posted by randomname
america's been drooling to control iran's oil for over 50 years.
Originally posted by FlyersFan
Originally posted by randomname
america's been drooling to control iran's oil for over 50 years.
If it was about the oil, we would have taken over the fields in Mexico and Venezuela by now. It would have been much easier and much cheaper. It can't be just an oil thing that is at the center of all this ...