An Apology to Iran
We are responsible for overthrowing Iran’s first democratic government. In 1951 Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq had the gall to demand a share of the profits from Iran’s vast oil reserves. For this affront to western moneyed interests, he was deposed by a CIA backed coup.
Operation Ajax was the codename for the CIA’s plan. The agency paid Islamic clerics, dis-affected army officers, and employed mobs as demonstrators to foment unrest and carry out the military coup. Mossadeq was removed from power, imprisoned, and later died under house arrest.
The CIA installed the Shah as the ruler of Iran, and for the next 26 years the United States supported and funded his government. This included supplying Iran’s military forces with modern weapons, and training for the Shah’s dreaded secret police unit, SAVAK. The Shah’s corrupt dictatorship created the revolution that took over the country in 1979.
Demonstrations against the Shah’s rule began in October of 1977. A year later, strikes were paralyzing the country and millions of Iranians were marching in the streets. Protests led to riots, and the Shah ordered the military and SAVAK to quell the uprising.
Thousands died in street battles, thousands more were interrogated and imprisoned. But the crackdown on demonstrators and repression by the Shah’s security apparatus could not stop the civil unrest. On January 16th, 1979 the Shah fled Iran.
Most Americans associate the Iranian revolution with the Ayatollah Khomeini. But he returned from exile after the Iranian people forced the Shah to leave the country. In 1979, his control over the revolution was tenuous.
There were Iranian groups calling for democratic elections, and plans to write a modern constitution for the new government. Two events allowed the Ayatollah to establish a theocratic regime and cement his hold over Iran; the seizure of American hostages at the US embassy, and the war with Iraq.
On November 4th, 1979 the Iranian hostage crisis began when a group of militant students took over the US embassy in Tehran. They held the 52 Americans captured there for 444 days. Coming on the heels of defeat in Vietnam, the hostage crisis outraged and demoralized America.
Although the Ayatollah had nothing to do with seizing the American embassy staff, he profited politically from the hostage crisis. He is reported to have said; “This action has many benefits … this has united our people. Our opponents do not dare act against us.”
A year after the Ayatollah returned from exile, all political dissent was set aside as the Iranian people fought for the survival of their country.
In September of 1980, Saddam Hussein launched a full scale invasion of Iran. He saw the political upheaval as an opportunity to capture oil-rich provinces and control the strategic Shatt al-Arab waterway. His regime also feared an uprising among Shia Muslims in Iraq.
His forces outnumbered the Iranians at the beginning of the war, and the Iraqis captured key objectives. But they underestimated the revolutionary zeal of the Iranians. With three times the population of Iraq, Iran’s superior numbers weathered the Iraqi offensive, then threatened to invade.
Iranian soldiers carried out suicidal human wave attacks against the better equipped Iraqi forces. The Iraqis dug in, and the war became a deadly stalemate reminiscent of World War One. As Saddam’s position became more precarious, he resorted to Scud missile attacks on Iranian cities, and even chemical warfare.
President Reagan declared that the United States; “would do whatever was necessary to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran”. His administration provided Iraq with satellite intelligence, and authorized the sale of “dual use” items that had both military and civilian applications. This equipment included trucks, military electronics, and chemicals such as mustard gas and VX nerve agent.
The Iran-Iraq War lasted nine years, and was one of the twentieth century’s bloodiest conflicts. Iran suffered an estimated 1 million killed or wounded, including 100,000 casualties from chemical weapons. Iraqi casualties are estimated at 250,000-500,000 killed or wounded.
We supported Saddam during his war with Iran, two years later he invaded Kuwait, and we were fighting him ourselves. During that war, the United States incited the Shia Muslims in Iraq to rise up and overthrow Saddam. On March 1st 1991, the day after a ceasefire ended the Persian Gulf War, the people of Iraq revolted against Saddam’s regime.
Within two weeks every major city in Southern Iraq was controlled by Shiite rebels, while Kurdish fighters captured all but one city in the north. As Saddam’s regime appeared ready to fall, The United States suddenly withdrew support for the rebellion. On March 6th, the US State Department issued the following statement:
“We don’t think that outside powers should be interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq.” The truth was, the United States wanted Saddam’s regime to survive as a bulwark against Iran. So the US ignored all pleas for help from the rebels, and turned a blind eye as Saddam ruthlessly put down the insurrection.
Most of Saddam’s elite Republican Guard formations had survived the war. These loyal units, backed by helicopter gunships, began indiscriminately slaughtering insurgents and civilians in contested areas. An estimated 100,000 Shias and Kurds were killed while the United States, with an army of a half million men on the Kuwaiti border, did nothing.
George Bush the Second ‘s invasion has killed at least another half million people. The United States did not invade Iraq to liberate the country or even to topple Saddam. We have illegally occupied Iraq for the same reason we’ve carried out all our machinations in the Middle East, to control the oil.
The nation of Iraq was a modern fiction, created after World War One when the colonial powers divided up the Middle East. The US occupation created an insurgency that pitted Sunnis against Shias. The ensuing civil war and ethnic cleansing have finally destroyed Iraq.
Iranians, and the Shia Muslims of Iraq are actually one people, Persians. Many of them hate the United States of America, and they have every right to. They have endured non stop oppression, war, and poverty since we betrayed their democracy in 1953.
And what exactly has Iran ever done to us?
It’s true the hostage crisis was sweet revenge for the Iranian people. One of the hostage-takers proclaimed to the chief US diplomat held at the embassy: “You have no right to complain, because you took our whole country hostage in 1953.”
Some of the former US hostages claim that Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors. Although he denies this, there can be no doubt that he served honorably in the war against Iraq. He has been radicalized by revolution, war, and the slaughter of Shia Muslims.
Iran’s President and ruling theocracy make no secret of their hatred for America, and they want Iran to stay an angry, anti-western country. After violently putting down protests to his re-election, Ahmadinejad demanded an apology from the United states. He claims that the US was meddling in Iran’s affairs by inciting the demonstrators, just as the CIA did in 1953.
We owe the people of Iran an apology, but not for the reason he stated. Despite all we’ve done to them, the Iranians want their Democracy back. And we’re doing nothing to help them as they stand up to their hard-line theocratic government.
Iran’s regime is dangerous. A militant, nuclear armed Iran will be very dangerous. The United States must seize this opportunity and reach out to the Iranian People.
And to do that, we must apologize for the atrocities we have meted out on them.
We undermined their parliamentary government, and supported the Shah. We have imposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran since 1979. We sold nerve gas to Saddam Hussein, knowing he would use it on Iranians. We incited the Shias in Iraq to rebel against Saddam, then stood by while they were butchered. We’ve killed unknown thousands more waging our illegal war in Iraq.
I can’t apologize for America. But as a citizen of this nation, I am sorry for what we’ve done to your country.
And we are all going to be very sorry if we do not take this opportunity to free Iran.
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