BlindBoo
Diamond Member
- Sep 28, 2010
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It's Jimmy Carter all over again.
U.S. strategic interests, primarily tied to oil, generated profound antagonism in Iran decades before Ayatollah Khomeini's rise to power. If we want to blame someone for this "mad regime" why not Dwight Eisenhower, who was president in 1953 when a U.S-British backed coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh?
Mossadegh's sin? Attempting to nationalize the British-owned Anglo-Iranian oil company, itself a direct offshoot of Western imperialism and the global race to exploit MidEastern oil resources.
The aftermath of that coup poisoned any chance that the majority of the Iranian population would ever view the United States in a positive light.
As one of the hostage takers told an outraged American embassy staffer: "You have no right to complain, because you took our whole country hostage in 1953."
The crisis in Iran that destroyed Carter's presidency was rooted in American and British actions in the MidEast dating back many decades. It strains our understanding of objective reality to call it his fault. In fact, it was Carter, as I wrote yesterday, who pointed his finger at the real villain -- American addiction to foreign oil.
Iran was not Jimmy Carter's fault
Iran was not Jimmy Carter's fault - How the World Works - Salon.com