Iran and the Shah: What Really Happened

In September 2007, US News & Globe Written report stated: "Among deepening frustration with Iran, calls for shifting Bush-league administration policy toward military strikes or other stronger deportment are intensifying." And in June 2008, President-to-be Barack Obama alleged: "The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal volition be to eliminate this threat."

However, suppose a progressive, pro-Western authorities ruled Iran, representing no threat? War discussions would exist unnecessary. Yet many forget that, until 30 years agone, exactly such a government led Islamic republic of iran, until it was toppled with the help of the same U.S. foreign policy establishment recently beating state of war drums.

Meet the Shah

From 1941 until 1979, Iran was ruled by a constitutional monarchy under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran'due south Shah (king).

Although Islamic republic of iran, too called Persia, was the earth's oldest empire, dating back 2,500 years, by 1900 it was floundering. Bandits dominated the land; literacy was one percent; and women, under primitive Islamic dictates, had no rights.

The Shah changed all this. Primarily past using oil-generated wealth, he modernized the nation. He built rural roads, postal services, libraries, and electric installations. He synthetic dams to irrigate Islamic republic of iran's arid land, making the country 90-percent cocky-sufficient in nutrient production. He established colleges and universities, and at his own expense, set up an educational foundation to train students for Iran's future.

To encourage independent tillage, the Shah donated 500,000 Crown acres to 25,000 farmers. In 1978, his final full year in power, the boilerplate Iranian earned $2,540, compared to $160 25 years earlier. Islamic republic of iran had full employment, requiring foreign workers. The national currency was stable for fifteen years, inspiring French economist André Piettre to phone call Iran a country of "growth without inflation." Although Iran was the world'southward second largest oil exporter, the Shah planned construction of 18 nuclear power plants. He built an Olympic sports complex and applied to host the 1988 Olympics (an accolade eventually assigned Seoul), an achievement unthinkable for other Middle Due east nations.

Long regarded equally a U.Due south. ally, the Shah was pro-Western and anti-communist, and he was enlightened that he posed the main bulwark to Soviet ambitions in the Middle East. Equally distinguished strange-affairs analyst Hilaire du Berrier noted: "He determined to make Iran … capable of blocking a Russian advance until the West should realize to what extent her ain interests were threatened and come to his assistance…. It necessitated an army of 250,000 men." The Shah's air strength ranked among the earth's five best. A voice for stability within the Middle Due east itself, he favored peace with State of israel and supplied the beleaguered land with oil.

On the home front end, the Shah protected minorities and permitted non-Muslims to practise their faiths. "All faith," he wrote, "imposes respect upon the beholder." The Shah too brought Islamic republic of iran into the 20th century past granting women equal rights. This was not to accommodate feminism, but to end primitive brutalization.

Yet, at the height of Iran's prosperity, the Shah of a sudden became the target of an ignoble campaign led by U.South. and British strange policy makers. Bolstered past slander in the Western printing, these forces, along with Soviet-inspired communist insurgents, and mullahs opposing the Shah's progressiveness, combined to confront him with overwhelming opposition. In 3 years he went from vibrant monarch to exile (on January xvi, 1979), and ultimately decease, while Iran fell to Ayatollah Khomeini's terror.

Houchang Nahavandi, one of the Shah'south ministers and closest advisers, reveals in his book The Last Shah of Iran: "We now know that the idea of deposing the Shah was broached continually, from the mid-seventies on, in the National Security Council in Washington, by Henry Kissinger, whom the Shah thought of as a firm friend."

Kissinger almost epitomized the American establishment: before acting equally Secretarial assistant of State under Republicans Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, he had been chief strange-affairs adviser to Nelson Rockefeller, whom he called "the single most influential person in my life." Jimmy Carter defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential ballot, but the switch to a Democratic administration did not change the new strange policy tilt against the Shah. Every presidential administration since Franklin D. Roosevelt's has been dominated past members of the Council on Strange Relations (CFR), the near visible manifestation of the institution that dictates U.S. foreign policy along internationalist lines. The Carter administration was no exception.

Nahavandi writes:

The alternation of parties does not modify the diplomatic orientation of the The states that much. The process of toppling the Shah had been envisaged and initiated in 1974, under a certain Republican administration…. Numerous, published documents and studies deport witness to the fact, even if it was not until the offset of the Carter administration that the conclusion was made to take concerted activity past evoking issues related to human rights.

The Shah's destruction required assembling a squad of diplomatic "hit men." Du Berrier commented:

When the situation was accounted ripe, U.S. Ambassador William Sullivan — the human reputed to have toppled the pro-American regime of General Phoumi Nosavan in Laos — was sent to urge the Shah to get out. In December Mr. George Brawl, an instant "dominance on Iran," was sent as a follow-up with the aforementioned message.

Sullivan (CFR), a career diplomat with no Middle East experience, became our ambassador to Iran in 1977. The Shah recalled:

Whenever I met Sullivan and asked him to confirm these official statements [of American support], he promised he would. Simply a 24-hour interval or two afterwards he would return, gravely milk shake his head, and say that he had received "no instructions" and therefore could not comment…. His answer was always the same: I have received no instructions…. This rote answer had been given me since early September [1978] and I would continue to hear information technology until the day I left the land.

The other key player du Berrier named, George Ball, was a quintessential institution human being: CFR fellow member, Bilderberger, and banker with Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb. The Shah commented: "What was I to make, for example, of the Assistants'south sudden decision to call former Nether Secretary of State George Ball to the White House equally an counselor on Iran? I knew that Brawl was no friend."

Writes Nahavandi:

George Ball — that guru of American diplomacy and prominento of certain think-tanks and pressure level groups — once paid a long visit to Teheran, where, interestingly, the National Broadcasting Authority placed an part at his disposal. Once installed there, he played host to all the all-time-known dissidents and gave them encouragement. Later on he returned to Washington, he made public statements, hostile and insulting to the Sovereign.

Joining the smear was U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, whose role Nahavandi recalled in a 1981 interview:

Simply nosotros must not forget the venom with which Teddy Kennedy ranted confronting the Shah, nor that on December 7, 1977, the Kennedy family unit financed a and then-called committee for the defense of liberties and rights of man in Teheran, which was nothing simply a headquarters for revolution.

Suddenly, the Shah noted, the U.Due south. media establish him "a despot, an oppressor, a tyrant." Kennedy denounced him for running "ane of the most violent regimes in the history of mankind."

At the heart of the "human rights" complaints was the Shah's security force, SAVAK. Comparable in its mission to America'south FBI, SAVAK was engaged in a mortiferous struggle against terrorism, most of which was fueled by the bordering USSR, which linked to Iran's internal communist party, the Tudeh. SAVAK, which had but 4,000 employees in 1978, saved many lives by averting several bombing attempts. Its prisons were open for Red Cross inspections, and though unsuccessful attempts were fabricated on the Shah's life, he always pardoned the would-be assassins. Nevertheless, a massive campaign was deployed confronting him. Inside Iran, Islamic fundamentalists, who resented the Shah'southward progressive pro-Western views, combined with Soviet-sponsored communists to overthrow the Shah. This tandem was "odd" considering communism is committed to destroying all religion, which Marx chosen "the opiate of the masses." The Shah understood that "Islamic Marxism" was an oxymoron, commenting: "Of grade the 2 concepts are irreconcilable — unless those who profess Islam practice not understand their ain religion or pervert it for their own political ends."

For Western TV cameras, protestors in Teheran carried empty coffins, or coffins seized from 18-carat funerals, proclaiming these were "victims of SAVAK." This deception — later admitted by the revolutionaries — was necessary because they had no actual martyrs to parade. Another tactic: demonstrators splashed themselves with mercurochrome, challenge SAVAK had bloodied them.

The Western media cooperated. When Carter visited Iran at the end of 1977, the press reported that his departure to Teheran International Airport had been through empty streets, because the city was "all locked upwards and emptied of people, by club of the SAVAK." What the media didn't mention: Carter chose to depart at 6 a.yard., when the streets were naturally empty.

An equally vicious campaign occurred when the Shah and his wife, Empress Farah, came for a land visit to America in November 1977. While touring Williamsburg, Virginia, nearly 500 Iranian students showed up, enthusiastically applauding. Nevertheless, well-nigh 50 protestors waved hammer-and-sickle cherry-red flags. These unlikely Iranians were masked, unable to speak Persian, and some were blonde. The U.S. media focused exclusively on the protesters. Wrote the Shah: "Imagine my anaesthesia the next day when I saw the press had reversed the numbers and wrote that the fifty Shah supporters were lost in a hostile crowd."

On November 16, the Shah and Empress were due to visit Carter. Several thousand Iranian patriots surrounded the White House begetting a huge imprint maxim "Welcome Shah." Notwithstanding, as Nahavandi reports:

The police kept them as far away as possible, but immune a small number of opponents [again, masked] to approach the railings … close to where the Sovereign'south helicopter was going to land for the official welcome. At the exact moment, when courtesies were beingness exchanged on the White House lawn, these people produced sticks and bike chains and set upon the others…. Thus, the whole world was allowed to see riotous scenes, on television, as an accessory to the arrival of the Majestic Couple.

Terror at Home

Two major events propelled the revolution in Iran. On the afternoon of August 19, 1978, a deliberate fire gutted the Rex Movie house in Abadan, killing 477 people, including many children with their mothers. Blocked exits prevented escape. The constabulary learned that the fire was caused past Ruhollah Khomeini supporters, who fled to Iraq, where the ayatollah was in exile. But the international press blamed the fire on the Shah and his "dreaded SAVAK." Furthermore, the mass murder had been timed to coincide with the Shah'due south planned celebration of his mother'south birthday; it could thus be reported that the royal family danced while Iran wept. Communist-inspired rioting swept Iran.

Foreigners, including Palestinians, appeared in the crowds. Although the media depicted demonstrations as "spontaneous uprisings," professional person revolutionaries organized them. Some Iranian students were caught up in it. Here the Shah'due south generosity backfired. As du Berrier pointed out:

In his desperate need of men capable of handling the sophisticated equipment he was bringing in, the Shah had sent over a hundred g students away…. Those educated in France and America return indoctrinated by leftist professors and eager to serve as links between comrades abroad and the Communist Party at home.

When the demonstrations turned violent, the regime reluctantly invoked martial constabulary. The 2nd dark day was September 8. Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Teheran were ordered to disperse by an regular army unit. Gunmen — many on rooftops — fired on the soldiers. The Shah'southward army fired back. The rooftop snipers so sprayed the crowd. When the tragedy was over, 121 demonstrators and lxx soldiers and police force lay dead. Autopsies revealed that most in the crowd had been killed by ammo non-regulation for the army. Nevertheless, the Western press claimed the Shah had massacred his ain people.

The Shah, extremely grieved by this incident, and wanting no farther bloodshed, gave orders tightly restricting the armed services. This proved a mistake. Until at present, the sight of his elite troops had quieted mobs. The new restraints emboldened revolutionaries, who brazenly insulted soldiers, knowing they could fire simply every bit a concluding resort.

Khomeini and the Media Conduce

Meanwhile, internationalist forces rallied effectually a new effigy they had chosen to lead Iran: Ruhollah Khomeini. A small cleric of Indian extraction, Khomeini had denounced the Shah'southward reforms during the 1960s — particularly women'due south rights and country reform for Muslim clerics, many of whom were large landholders. Because his incendiary remarks had contributed to violence and rioting then, he was exiled, living mostly in Iraq, where Iranians largely forgot him until 1978.

A shadowy past followed Khomeini. The 1960s rioting linked to him was financed, in office, by Eastern Bloc intelligence services. He was in the circle of the cleric Kachani Sayed Abolghassem, who had ties to E German intelligence. Furthermore, in 1960, Colonel Michael Goliniewski, 2d-in-control of Soviet counter-intelligence in Poland, defected to the West. His debriefings exposed then many communist agents that he was honored by a resolution of the U.Due south. House of Representatives. One study, declassified in 2000, revealed, "Ayatollah Khomeini was one of Moscow's five sources of intelligence at the center of the Shiite bureaucracy."

Withal, as French announcer Dominique Lorenz reported, the Americans, "having picked Khomeini to overthrow the Shah, had to get him out of Iraq, clothe him with respectability and set him up in Paris, a succession of events, which could non have occurred, if the leadership in French republic had been confronting it."

In 1978, Khomeini, in Iraq since 1965, was permitted to reside at Neauphle-le-Château in France. Two French law squads, along with Algerians and Palestinians, protected him. Nahavandi notes:

Effectually the modest villa occupied by Khomeini, the agents of many of the earth's underground services were gathered as thickly as the fall leaves. The CIA, the MI6, the KGB and the SDECE were all there. The CIA had even rented the house next door. According to most of the published witness-statements, the Eastward Germans were in accuse of virtually of the radio-transmissions; and, on at to the lowest degree 1 occasion, eight thousand cassettes of the Ayatollah's speeches were sent, directly to Teheran, past diplomatic handbag.

Foreign-affairs analyst du Berrier reported:

French services quickly verified that Libya, Iraq and Russia were providing coin. Immature Iranians, members of the Tudeh (communist) Party, made upward Khomeini's secretariat in France. Working in cooperation with the French Communist Party they provided couriers to pass his orders and tapes into Iran. Their sympathizers in United kingdom turned the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) into a propaganda organ.

Journalists descended in droves on Neauphle-le-Château; Khomeini gave 132 interviews in 112 days, receiving like shooting fish in a barrel questions as their media organs became his sounding lath. Nahavandi affirms that, within Iran "the Voice of America, the Vocalisation of Israel and, especially, the BBC virtually became the voice of the revolution, moving from criticism, to overt incitement of revolt, and from biased reporting, to outright disinformation."

Khomeini'south inflammatory speeches were broadcast; revolutionary songs aired on Iranian radio. One journalist, however, stunned Khomeini by bucking the tendency: intelligence expert Pierre de Villemarest, hero of the French Resistance in World War Two, anti-communist, and critic of the CFR. Interviewing Khomeini, de Villemarest asked:

How are you going to solve the economic crisis into which yous have plunged the country through your agitation of these past few weeks?… And aren't yous afraid that when the nowadays regime is destroyed you will exist outpaced by a party as tightly-knit and well organized as the [communist] Tudeh?

Khomeini didn't respond. The interpreter stood, maxim, "The Ayatollah is tired." De Villemarest registered his concern with the French Ministry of the Interior, but reported, "They told me to occupy myself with something else."

Catastrophe the Shah's Rule

Islamic republic of iran's situation deteriorated. As Western media spurred revolutionaries, riots and strikes paralyzed Iran. The Shah wrote:

At virtually this time, a new CIA chief was stationed in Teheran. He had been transferred to Islamic republic of iran from a post in Tokyo with no previous experience in Iranian diplomacy. Why did the U.S. install a human totally ignorant of my country in the midst of such a crunch? I was astonished past the insignificance of the reports he gave me. At i signal nosotros spoke of liberalization and I saw a smile spread beyond his face.

The Carter assistants's continuous demand upon the Shah: liberalize. On October 26, 1978, he freed 1,500 prisoners, just increased rioting followed. The Shah commented that "the more I liberalized, the worse the situation in Iran became. Every initiative I took was seen as proof of my ain weakness and that of my authorities." Revolutionaries equated liberalization with appeasement. "My greatest mistake," the Shah recalled, "was in listening to the Americans on matters concerning the internal affairs of my kingdom."

Iran's concluding hope: its well-trained military machine could all the same restore order. The Carter administration realized this. Du Berrier noted: "Air Force General Robert Huyser, deputy commander of U.South. forces in Europe, was sent to pressure Iran's generals into giving in without a fight." "Huyser directly threatened the military with a interruption in diplomatic relations and a cutoff of arms if they moved to support their monarch."

"It was therefore necessary," the Shah wrote, "to neutralize the Iranian regular army. It was conspicuously for this reason that General Huyser had come to Teheran."

Huyser just paid the Shah a cursory visit, just had iii meetings with Iran'south revolutionary leaders — one lasting 10 hours. Huyser, of form, had no authority to interfere with a foreign nation'south sovereign affairs.

Prior to execution later by Khomeini, General Amir Hossein Rabbi, commander-in-primary of the Iranian Air Force, stated: "Full general Huyser threw the Shah out of the country like a expressionless mouse."

U.Due south. officials pressed the Shah to leave Islamic republic of iran. He reflected:

You cannot imagine the pressure the Americans were putting on me, and in the end information technology became an order…. How could I stay when the Americans had sent a general, Huyser, to force me out? How could I stand solitary against Henry Precht [the Country Department Managing director for Iran] and the unabridged State Department?

He finally accepted exile, clinging to the belief that America was nevertheless Iran'south ally, and that leaving would avert greater bloodshed. These hopes proved illusions.

A factor in the Shah's decision to depart was that — unknown to well-nigh people — he had cancer. U.S. Administrator William Sullivan (CFR) assured the Shah that, if he exited Iran, America would welcome him. Despite the pleadings of myriad Iranians to stay, he reluctantly left. However, soon later reaching Cairo, the U.S. ambassador to Arab republic of egypt effectively informed him that "the government of the U.s. regrets that it cannot welcome the Shah to American territory."

The betrayed ruler now became "a human being without a country."

Iran's Chaotic Descent

On February 1, 1979, with U.Due south. officials joining the welcoming committee, Ayatollah Khomeini arrived in Iran amid media fanfare. Although counter-demonstrations, some numbering up to 300,000 people, erupted in Iran, the Western printing barely mentioned them.

Khomeini had taken power, not by a constitutional process, but violent revolution that ultimately claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Numerous of his opponents were executed, commonly without due process, and often after brutal torture. Teheran'due south law officers — loyal to the Shah — were slaughtered. At least 1,200 Imperial Army officers, who had been instructed by Full general Huyser not to resist the revolution, were put to death. Before dying, many exclaimed, "God save the Male monarch!" "On February 17," reported du Berrier, "General Huyser faced the first photos of the murdered leaders whose hands he had tied and read the descriptions of their mutilations." At the year's end, the armed services emasculated and no longer a threat, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. More than Iranians were killed during Khomeini's first month in power than in the Shah'due south 37-year reign. Yet Carter, Ted Kennedy, and the Western media, who had brayed so long well-nigh the Shah's alleged "human rights" violations, said aught. Mass executions and torture elicited no protests. Seeing his state thus destroyed, the exiled Shah raged to an adviser: "Where are the defenders of man rights and commonwealth now?" Later, the Shah wrote that there was

not a word of protestation from American human rights advocates who had been so vocal in denouncing my "tyrannical" regime! Information technology was a lamentable commentary, I reflected, that the U.s., and indeed most Western countries, had adopted a double standard for international morality: annihilation Marxist, no matter how bloody and base, is acceptable.

Exile

The Shah'due south personal tragedy wasn't over. He stayed briefly in Egypt and Morocco, only did not wish to impose risks on his hosts from Muslim extremists. Eventually he welcomed Mexican President Lopes Portillo's hospitality.

However, in Mexico the Shah received an invitation from CFR Chairman David Rockefeller, who used influence to secure permission for the Shah to come to America for medical treatment. Rockefeller sent a trendy Park Avenue MD to examine the Shah, who agreed — against his amend judgment — to abandon his personal physicians and fly to New York for treatment. In October 1979, he was received at the Rockefeller-founded Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital for cancer treatment. Hither the Shah experienced a fateful delay in spleen surgery that some believe accelerated his decease.

The Shah's admission to the Us had another outcome. Partly in retribution, on November 4, 1979, Iranians took 52 hostages from the U.South. embassy in Teheran. (According to Nahavandi, Soviet special services assisted them.) This embarrassed Jimmy Carter, who had done so much to destroy the Shah and support Khomeini. The seizure made the Shah a pawn.

While in New York, Mexico inexplicably reversed its welcome, informing the Shah that his render would contravene Mexico'southward "vital interests." One can but guess at the hidden hands peradventure influencing this decision.

Carter faced a dilemma. Islamic republic of iran wanted the Shah'south return — for a degrading execution — in exchange for the American hostages. Withal, a straight merchandise might humiliate the The states.

Therefore, Panama was selected as intermediary. Post-obit treatment in New York, the Shah was informed he could no longer remain in America, but Panama would welcome him. In Panama, however, the Shah and Empress were under virtual business firm abort; it was credible that information technology would only be a thing of time before the Shah would exist sent to Islamic republic of iran in exchange for the hostages. A special muzzle was erected in Teheran. Khomeini's followers envisioned parading him in the streets before final torture and bloody execution.

All the same, Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president and the Shah's friend, discerned the scheme, and sent a jet to Panama, which escorted the Shah and Empress safely to Arab republic of egypt.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi died on July 27, 1980. His last words: "I wait upon Fate, never ceasing to pray for Iran, and for my people. I remember only of their suffering." In Cairo, a grand funeral honored him. Three million Egyptians followed the procession.

Anwar Sadat who, like the Shah, advocated a peaceful Middle East, and defied the American establishment past saving the Shah from infamous death, did not survive much longer himself. The post-obit twelvemonth, Muslim extremists assassinated him under circumstances remaining controversial.

The Issues

Why did the American establishment, defying logic and morality, betray our ally the Shah? Only the perpetrators tin answer the question, but a few possibilities should be considered.

Islamic republic of iran ranks second in the world in oil and natural-gas reserves. Energy is critical to earth domination, and major oil companies, such as Exxon and British Petroleum, have long exerted behind-the-scenes influence on national policies.

The major oil companies had for years dictated Iranian oil commerce, but the Shah explained:

In 1973 we succeeded in putting a end, irrevocably, to lx years of foreign exploitation of Iranian oil-resource…. In 1974, Iran at concluding took over the management of the entire oil-industry, including the refineries at Abadan so on…. I am quite convinced that it was from this moment that some very powerful, international interests identified, within Iran, the collusive elements, which they could use to encompass my downfall.

Does this explain the sudden attitude change toward Islamic republic of iran expressed by Henry Kissinger, commencement in the mid-seventies? Kissinger's links to the Rockefellers, whose fortune derived primarily from oil, bolsters the Shah's view on the state of affairs. Nevertheless, other factors should be considered.

Although the Shah maintained a neutral opinion toward Israel, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he allowed critical supplies to attain Egypt, enabling it to achieve a balance of success, and earning Sadat'south undying gratitude, simply wrath from influential Zionists. Did this affect the Due west's attitude alter in the mid-seventies?

We should not overlook that the Shah opposed the powerful opium trade, now flourishing in the Middle East.

Finally, the Shah was a nationalist who brought his land to the brink of greatness and encouraged Centre Eastward peace. These qualities are abomination to those seeking global governance, for potent nations resist membership in world bodies, and war has long been a destabilizing catalyst essential to what globalists call "the new globe club."

What is the solution to modernistic Iran? Before listening to war drums, let us remember:

Information technology was the CFR clique — the same establishment entrenched in the Bush-league and Obama administrations — that ousted the Shah, resulting in today'due south Iran. That establishment also chanted for the six-twelvemonth-old Republic of iraq War over declared weapons of mass destruction never found. Therefore, instead of contemplating war with Iran, a nation four times Iraq'south size, let united states demand that America shed its CFR bureaucracy and their interventionist policy that has wrought decades of misery, and adopt a policy of fugitive strange entanglements, and of minding our ain business in international affairs.