Blowback: Iran, the Ayatollahs, and the CIA (Video)
Hosted by Intercept, "Iran, the Ayatollahs, and the CIA" is the third episode of a six-part Blowback series that explores how foreign policy decisions by the U.S. and its allies often produce blowback and so-called unintended consequences.
The host of the program starts by addressing Americans who often ask "WHY CAN’T IRAN have a secular, democratic government?" He then explains that "Unlike citizens of the Islamic Republic, however, citizens of the United States tend to have short memories. The historical reality is that Iran did have a secular, democratic government, led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh between 1951 and 1953 — but Mossadegh was removed from power in a coup organized and funded by the CIA and Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6."
Hasan continues: "With a handful of exceptions — Madeleine Albright in 2000, Barack Obama in 2009 and 2015 — most mainstream U.S. politicians have little to say about any of this sordid history. In Washington, D.C., Iranian hostility toward the U.S. has long been treated as inexplicable and irrational, while the CIA’s role in the 1953 coup — which set off a chain of events that resulted in the rise of Iran’s ayatollahs and the Islamic Revolution of 1979 — has vanished into a memory hole.
It was left to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, of all people, to remind Americans of the catastrophic consequences of that coup in a televised debate with Hillary Clinton during the Democratic presidential primaries in February 2016."
The Intercept is an investigative nonprofit news organization that calls itself "dedicated to producing fearless, adversarial journalism."
Recently Paulo Coelho, known for his widely translated novel The Alchemist, popular among Iranians and intellectuals in the world, lashed out at Prince Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the former deposed Shah (King) of Iran because the Prince supports Trump and encourages foreign intervention to overthrow the Iranian government (story Link).
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