The CIA has for the first time publicly admitted that it and the British MI6 were behind the 1953 coup that overthrew the democratically elected prime minister of Iran and installed the hated Shah of Iran, who ruled as dictator for 26 years until overthrown by the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Why did we do it? Because the Iranian prime minister had nationalized Iran’s oil, which angered British Petroleum (BP).
Yes, that’s right. The CIA and MI6 with full knowledge and approval of their respective governments, carried out an act of war in the name of corporate interests, which destroyed a democracy and replaced it with a dictatorship, which eventually contributed to the rise of Islamic nationalism in Iran. Clearly, this blowback has cost us financially far more than the original cost of the nationalized oil.
Why did the people of the US and UK stand for this? Because of a misinformation campaign carried out on their own citizens, which falsely claimed that communists were taking over Iran.
Greed. Pure, simple, and stupid.
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We could have used Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden back in 1953.
Yes, they are controversial figures but in hind sight, wouldn’t we and the world be much better off now if someone had exposed our precious secrets in 1953.
Given that a “misinformation campaign carried out on (our) own citizens” enabled the recent disaster in Iraq, I believe we need brave individuals risking their freedom to counter official secrecy as coverup for lies and illegal government action.
Until our government proves otherwise, the risks to our national security from leaks are, in my opinion, less than the risks of abuse enabled by secrecy.
Let’s not forget the mercenaries from Saudi Arabia we hired in the 1980s under Reagan to get rid of Russia in Afghanistan. The mercenaries gave rise to the Taliban. We are still fighting them. The Taliban is still shooting woman for “not staying in the house”. We did that. We allowed Al Qaeda through the borders in Iraq. Suddam kept the borders closed. They keep killing. We did that.
And why is our president hesitant on Egypt and Syria? Would our actions in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan be a template for how to do it wrong?