“The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he
cannot believe it exists”. -- J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director 1924-1972, quoted in The
Elks Magazine (August 1956). "It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from
its [corrupt feudal] government." -- Thomas Paine. “Each of you, for himself, by himself
and on his own responsibility, must speak”. -- Mark Twain. “The money powers prey upon
the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more
despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than
bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies all who question its methods or throw light
upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the
bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.” -- President
Abraham Lincoln. “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary
act.” -- George Orwell
_____
From: reality101_re...@yahoogroups.ca [mailto:reality101_re...@yahoogroups.ca] On Behalf
Of Andy McCracken
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 1:53 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: [reality101_redux] CIA Clandestine Service History, "Overthrow of Premier
Mossadeq of Iran, November 1952-August 1953,"
http://www.gwu. <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/>
edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/
The CIA history of operation TPAJAX excerpted below was first disclosed by James Risen
of The New York Times in its editions of April 16 and June 18, 2000, and posted in this
form on its website at:
http://www.nytimes.
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html>
com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html
This extremely important document is one of the last major pieces of the puzzle
explaining American and British roles in the August 1953 coup against Iranian Premier
Mohammad Mossadeq. Written in March 1954 by Donald Wilber, one of the operation’s chief
planners, the 200-page document is essentially an after-action report, apparently based
in part on agency cable traffic and Wilber’s interviews with agents who had been on the
ground in Iran as the operation lurched to its conclusion.
Long-sought by historians, the Wilber history is all the more valuable because it is one
of the relatively few documents that still exists after an unknown quantity of materials
was destroyed by CIA operatives – reportedly “routinely” – in the 1960s, according to
former CIA Director James Woolsey. However, according to an investigation by the
National Archives and Records Administration, released in March 2000, “no schedules in
effect during the period 1959-1963 provided for the disposal of records related to
covert actions and, therefore, the destruction of records related to Iran was
unauthorized.” (p. 22) The CIA now says that about 1,000 pages of documentation remain
locked in agency vaults.
CIA Clandestine Service History, "Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran,
November 1952-August 1953," March 1954, by Dr. Donald Wilber.
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/53-Cover%20&%20Historian...>
Cover
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/53-Cover%20&%20Historian...>
Sheet, Historian's Note and Table of Contents
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/summary.pdf>
Summary <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/summary.pdf>
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/1-Orig.pdf>
I. PRELIMINARY <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/1-Orig.pdf> STEPS
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/2-Orig.pdf>
II. DRAFTING <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/2-Orig.pdf> THE PLAN
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/3-Orig.pdf>
III. <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/3-Orig.pdf> CONSOLIDATING THE
OPERATIONAL PLAN
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/4-Orig.pdf>
IV. THE DECISIONS <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/4-Orig.pdf> ARE MADE:
ACTIVITY BEGINS
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/5-Orig.pdf>
V. MOUNTING <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/5-Orig.pdf> PRESSURE AGAINST
THE SHAH
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/6-Orig.pdf>
VI. THE FIRST <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/6-Orig.pdf> TRY
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/7-Orig.pdf>
VII. APPARENT <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/7-Orig.pdf> FAILURE
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/8-Orig.pdf>
VIII. THE SHAH <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/8-Orig.pdf> IS VICTORIOUS
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/9-Orig.pdf>
IX. REPORT TO <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/9-Orig.pdf> LONDON
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/10-Orig.pdf>
X. WHAT WAS <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/10-Orig.pdf> LEARNED FROM THE
OPERATION
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20A.pdf>
APPENDIX <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20A.pdf> A - Initial
Operational Plan for TPAJAX as Cabled from Nicosia to Headquarters on 1 June 1953
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20B.pdf>
APPENDIX <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20B.pdf> B - "London"
Draft of the TPAJAX Operational Plan
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20C.pdf>
APPENDIX <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20C.pdf> C - Foreign
Office Memorandum of 23 July 1953 from British Ambassador Makins to Assistant Secretary
of State Smith
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20D.pdf>
APPENDIX <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20D.pdf> D - Report on
Military Planning Aspect of TPAJAX
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20E.pdf>
APPENDIX <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/appendix%20E.pdf> E - Military
Critique - Lessons Learned from TPAJAX re Military Planning Aspects of Coup d'Etat
_____
The <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/19990513/19990513.htm> CIA's Broken Promises on
Declassification
Follow the link above for information on the Archive's lawsuit against the CIA to force
the declassification of key documents on the agency's role in the European elections of
1948 and the 1953 coup in Iran, and to read what five former CIA directors and others
have said about the agency's declassification policies. From there, follow the link at
the bottom to view the complaint filed with U.S. District Court on May 13, 1999.
The document below is the court filing of a sworn statement from William H. McNair, the
Information Review Officer for the CIA's Directorate of Operations. In the statement,
McNair explained why he believed that all but one sentence out of the 200 page history
later disclosed the the Times should remain classified.
Defendant's <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/06-01.htm> Notice of Filing
of Defendant's 'Vaughn Index', which Includes Defendant's 'Glomar' Response to
Plaintiff's Request for Certain Documentation
Introduction, Declaration <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/06-03.htm> of
William H. McNair, Information Review Officer, Directorate of Operations, United States
Central Intelligence Agency
Summary of <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/06-07.htm> Plaintiff's FOIA
Requests
FOIA Exemptions <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/06-10.htm> Claimed for
the CIA Withholdings
Categories of Information <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/06-13.htm>
Withheld Under the Applicable FOIA Exemptions
Appendix A. <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/06-32.htm> Document Index
Return to Iran Documentation <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/iran/iran.html> Project
_http://www.law.
<http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss17/booknotes-All.shtml>
harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss17/booknotes-All.shtml_._,_.___
All The Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. By Stephen
Kinzer. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003. Pp.258. $24.95, paper.
Any analysis of America’s position in the Middle East would be incomplete without a
thorough understanding of the U.S. role in overthrowing Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the
democratically elected and revered Prime Minister who nationalized Iran’s oil. In All
The Shah’s Men, Stephen Kinzer revisits Operation Ajax, the 1953 CIA-sponsored coup that
ousted Mossadegh and returned the Shah to power. Though not forgotten in Iran, the 1953
coup has sadly faded from memory in the United States. It is, therefore, refreshing and
timely for Kinzer to provide a highly readable account of America’s first intervention
in Middle Eastern affairs, a coup d'état that may be at the root of the terrorist
threats America faces today. This book implicitly argues that the Eisenhower
administration’s Cold War mentality caused an error in judgment with tremendously
negative long-term ramifications for U.S. policy.
Kinzer begins his exciting narrative with the CIA’s initial failure to depose Dr.
Mossadegh. Concerned with Mossadegh’s willingness to tolerate communists, the CIA
dispatched Kermit Roosevelt (Theodore Roosevelt’s grandson) to Iran to destabilize the
government and to replace the Prime Minister with a leader more acceptable to the
Americans and British. Roosevelt’s original plan was to arrest Mossadegh using
quasi-legal royal decrees and to appoint royalist General Zahedi in his place. When the
plans were secretly leaked, the Shah escaped, and all hopes of ousting Mossadegh seemed
lost. In a matter of days, however, Roosevelt tried again, and this time, he was
successful.
Before recounting how Roosevelt’s second coup succeeded in overthrowing the democratic
government in Tehran, Kinzer provides readers with a quick overview of the history of
ancient Persia and modern Iran. In addition, he discusses the role of Islam in Iranian
history and pays particular attention to the Shiite Muslim tradition. He focuses
primarily on two themes: the historical Iranian desire for just leadership culminating
in Iran’s Constitutional Revolution in the early 1900s and the tragic Iranian outlook
rooted in the Shiite belief in martyrdom. Kinzer argues that this tradition gave rise to
Dr. Mossadegh, a fierce believer in democracy and Iran’s national sovereignty.
Predictably these beliefs placed Mossadegh in direct odds with the highly profitable
British oil business that operated in Iran according to the inequitable terms agreed to
by Iranian monarchs. The concessions leading to the formation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company (AIOC) effectively permitted the British to siphon all oil profits out of Iran,
to treat Iranian workers as second-class citizens, and to refuse Iranians the
opportunity to audit AIOC’s books.
Dr. Mossadegh nationalized Iranian oil in 1951 to wide acclaim. He was immensely popular
at home and tremendously respected abroad, so much so that he was chosen Time’s “Man of
The Year.” Kinzer argues that until Eisenhower’s election to the White House in 1952,
American and British approaches to the nationalization of Iranian oil remained widely
divergent. He quotes numerous American foreign policy figures expressing disdain for
British colonialism and sympathy for the Iranian cause. In fact, Kinzer cites President
Truman’s correspondence with Churchill in which he urged the British leader to respect
Iranian nationalism. Failure to accommodate Iran’s nationalist aspirations, Truman
warned, would allow the Soviets to control this strategically situated country.
Eisenhower’s election reversed this foreign policy approach, bringing the United States
much closer to Britain. The rigidly polarized worldview of John Foster Dulles and his
brother Allen Dulles, both high-ranking figures in the Eisenhower administration,
allowed the British to enlist American support for the coup. The British, according to
Kinzer, merely reformulated their predominantly colonial grievance with Iran using the
prevalent Cold War discourse. The Dulles brothers accepted the British argument that
Mossadegh was too soft on communists and that the Tudeh (the pro-Soviet Communist party)
may soon control Iran. Thus, the CIA backed Operation Ajax and allowed Kermit Roosevelt
to ally himself with figures as diverse as the Shah, General Zahedi, Ayatollah Kashani,
and local gang-leader Shaban Jafari in order to overthrow Mossadegh. Kinzer superbly
describes the chaotic atmosphere in Tehran in August 1953 when Mossadegh was finally
driven from power.
Kinzer’s well-written, quick-paced, and gripping work should be of tremendous interest
to those concerned with American foreign policy in the Middle East. The story of
Operation Ajax may be worth telling and retelling for those who wonder why the people of
the region in general, and Iranians in particular, remain distrustful of the United
States. In this book, Kinzer wishes to argue for the existence of a causal connection
between the overthrow of Mossadegh and the contemporary terrorist acts directed at the
United States. While the strength of this causal chain is perhaps debatable, observant
students of history would be hard-pressed to dispute Kinzer’s central assertion.
Despite general strength, All The Shah’s Men suffers from two shortcomings. First,
Kinzer attempts to explain too much about the Iranian perspective, and about Mossadegh’s
refusal to compromise, through the lens of Shiite Islam. Despite Islam’s importance in
Iranian politics, using Shiite theology to explain the nationalization of the oil
industry is far too reductionist. It is disappointing that the book discusses Shiite
traditions at length, but fails to consider the influences of various decolonization
movements around the globe on the Iranian struggle.
More importantly, Kinzer does not illustrate precisely why he believes Operation Ajax
has given rise to today’s terrorist activities. Though he points out that the 1953 coup
has made Iranians distrustful of the United States, Kinzer fails to consider the issue
in sufficient depth. The author’s central thesis may have been strengthened if he
considered the Shah’s post-1953 crackdown on secular and democratic opposition groups
and how this approach translated into the radicalization and Islamization of dissent.
Had Iran’s secular democracy been allowed to develop, mature, and solidify under
Mossadegh, it is likely that the Islamic fundamentalism now threatening the entire
region would not be a serious issue.
Stephen Kinzer begins his book with a quote from Harry Truman: “There is nothing new in
the world except the history you do not know.” Those wishing to learn about terrorism
and America’s image in the Middle East would be well advised to take Truman’s words
seriously and to familiarize themselves with the history of the American-backed coup
d'état in Iran.
—Kaveh Shahrooz
Copyright © 2004 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
Harvard Human Rights Journal / Vol. 17, Spring 2004
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