Representative Press Blog

do people understand that the US has been exposed as having undermined democracy in foreign countries? Actually the actions of US policy makers have been admitted to.

Interestingly AT THE TIME, the NYT editors praised the overthrow of a democratically elected PM and the installing of the Shah: "The basic themes of internal planning sometimes reach the public, as when the editors of the applauding the overthrow of the parliamentary Mossadegh regime in Iran, observed that "Underdeveloped countries with rich resources now have an object lesson in the heavy cost that must be paid by one of their number which goes berserk with fanatical nationalism."

And we know it has been admitted to publicly.

"In Iran in the early 1950's the CIA, under President Eisenhower's instructions, helped overthrow the Mossadeg government and re-install the Shah. Given what's happened in Iran since 1979, Mossadeg looks pretty good by comparison. " admits James Woolsey who was director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency


His next sentence I nominate for understatement of the century:

"In retrospect it would have probably been a better idea to let Iran take its own course then -- there might not be so much resentment against the U.S. there now if we had kept our hands off."

OK, so we know the ugliness of US policy makers, why the hell do people say this stupid bullshit about being "anti-AMerican" for pointing out these kinds of facts? They deny that these things are done and attack the people that talk about it with the terms like "un-American".

The bottom line is "In 1953, the CIA and British intelligence orchestrated a coup d’etat that toppled the democratically elected government of Iran. The government of Mohammad Mossadegh. The aftershocks of the coup are still being felt. "

The U.S. involvement in the fall of Mossadegh was not publicly acknowledged until very recently although many have know for years. In a New York Times article in March 2000, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright admitted that "the coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development. And it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs."

Given this, don't people who use the term "anti-American" feel stupid? What does it take for people to understand that the US has done some EXTREMELY UGLY, ILLEGAL AND UNDEMOCRATIC things? It is not "anti-American" to insist that US policy makers don't **** over people around the world. We don't want Americans inside the US to screw over fellow Americans, why should we excuse these things when it is done to foreigners?

If the example of screwing over Iran isn't good enough, what the hell would it take? I swear, these people like JG, who INSIST that US polices are motivated by noble respect for the rights of others and of fellow Americans, must have their heads up their asses.


http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/08/25/1534210

http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/year/year-c02-s02.html