Pictory

it is hard to handle iran

my husBand was part of the royal shah airforce , he died during the 1980 with the coup to save iran. i BELIEVE that the iran now is the darkness , that before during shah time it was alot better then now and it hard to run a goverment when people want to go backwards in time . I been fighting for human rights since husband death , and feel very strong and love the irani people , but I know that this goverment now has destroyed it own and killed for long enough . I dont know how the irani people can change this when it so deep in the hole . How can you change a country if it been backward for so long now .

Right To The Point

THANK YOU!!!
mrClass right to the point.
I could not put it any better than you did
I am glad that at least some people are willig to face up the the reality

All the Best

you think you can do better?

shah was not a perfcet ruler but he was a very good one. he did his best (how many of you do your best every day?)  but appearently his best was not good enough for some people. It's interesting that all the people that opposed him could not come up with one solution for anything and they still can't!!!! 

Do you people think that it is easy to run a place like Iran? much less try to transform it to a modern progressive secular state over night. (Please tell us how it can be done?)

what is your solution beside constantly talking about secular democracy? (the words you just learned past couple of decades with no real content)  with these monkeys running Iran into darkness the least every one can see is how backward our society was and to some extent is, but you were expecting the shah to perform miracle? sweet dreams....

The Joke is on us

Dear Amirkabir4U

Although I found your letter interesting and your questions and motivation genuine, however I did not find any thing new in your flawed logic that I have not addressed in my previous articles.

Though I am starting to get bored with repeating these facts, but just because I see you as a man of logic who is in the search of the truth I try to explain these fact to you for one last time. However I the end it is up to you to make your mind as it the end people believe what they want to believe

1- The question of why Shah have left his country and his supporters and the comparison between the shah and a military general have been used many times over and again by people from both sides of argument.
As you put it rightly yourself a military general stays with his army right to the end when he either succeeds or dies and that is the duty of an army man no more no less. However this is the easiest part the job of defending a countries interest, as when the soldiers and their commanders got killed, the war have ended and the guns fell silent the real job begins. This is the job of political leaders to negotiate reconciliation and rebuild. A military minded leader would never make a good political one otherwise countries like Burma and general Penuche’s Chilly would have been considered a perfect place to live in when, as we know quiet on the contrary they are the last place that any person would like to live.

2- you argued that why he did not stay to defend his people and supporters. My answer to you is this. How can one defend people against themselves and their own stupidity and ignorance? Would you proposed that he would have stayed and risked a civil war by playing different factions of our people against each other, or did you prefer for him to have executed people by their thousands and burried them in unmarked mass graves just as the IRI did with the MKO and poor communists or may be you would liked to see the opposition hanged on high cranes in the charge of being Araazel and obaash. Would that have won your or my support from him??????

3- the other important issue that you raised in your argument was about Shah’s close relationship with the West. I must admit that even I am critical about this approach and I think he made a mistake to open an account on these countries and count of their alliance.
On the other hand we can not escape the fact that US Israel and the West in general were and still the most powerful countries in the world and unfortunately in the real world sometime you have to bribe the bully in order to get them off your back, in order for you to be able to advance the interest of your own country. This is the rule of jungle and the fact of life that dominated worlds politic since the time of Persians, Greeks and Romans. You are either the suppressor or the suppressed. There is no in between. If countries do not want to be suppressed they have to grow up industrially militarily industrially and most importantly mentally. When you have become the top dog then you can decide what approach to take toward your subjects by either becoming a humanitarian leader like Cyrus the Great, or a dubious man eater like today’s politicians in the west and befor getting to that point the rest is just talk and talk in cheap

The moment Shah lost the site of the cruel fact and started to stand up to this bullies without considering his position assets and mentality of his people, the West used his own people to get rid of him.

4- about the money that he had in his personal accounts when leaving Iran there have been many speculation (and they were just that SPECULATIONS).
The highest figure put on it was the amount of $20m by the IRI. It still is a large amount of money however after thirty years service did you expect him to get out penny less and apply for welfare in U.S ??????

Furthermore the amount that he took still is noting when compared with the big bonuses that the bosses of large companies award to themselves. Also considering his services to his country compared with the mullahs and the amount that they and their families stole from country or gave away to Syria Hezbollah, Hamas Almahdy Army and many other terrorist groups in the world to support them in the expense of our wealth and reputation, what shah took is peanuts.

5- the last but not the least about his personal life and the difficulties that he experienced in his married life I can only say that after all he was a human being just like the rest of us and had no super powers to prevent things from going wrong is his personal life. Also unfortunately it is always the case that people live on gossip without checking their facts or even their right to pass judgement on other persons most personal and intimate, life issues. Especially when you are a famous person these issues are used against you again and again without any consideration or respect for the truth or peoples privacy. No one knows the story behind Shah’s marriages and why they did not work out except him and his partners and it is simply cruel and unfair to poke you nose in other people’s personal life so I am not even going to discuss this issue

Finally as the joke of the 20 century I must redirect your attention to this fact that considering the state of our country’s economical, social, diplomatic and military state in the world stage and state of millions of Iranians who live as homeless asylum seekers around the world or difficulties of just obtaining a visa, or the number of young Iranian girds who work as prostitutes in Dubai and other Arab countries and comparing all these issues with where we were 28 years ago, I am afraid the joke is on you and me

A DARK LEGEND

yes I better say this,

It seems in the history of middle east there was only one leader who had the backing of three main countries, one western superpower (USA), Israel and also the Russians. This well supported leader, or king of kings, who was consumming Iran's assets at such a rate still no one knows what he spend it on, could not stay in Iran like a man and protect his supporters. He claimed he had the best army in middle east but still had no guts (or should I say no balls) to stay in Iran and diffend his goverment. Lets face it this puppet, refer to shahe shahan, was not man enough to stay in Iran and defend his supporters agains mullahs. A lot of people asked why. Well maybe he was not qualified to be a leader, maybe because he was not what a lot of uninformed people think he was, maybe because he was not a man at all. He was overthrown by MULLAHS and this is the greatest joke of 20 century of Iran's history. Trust me this is a big laugh. As the general believe goes British got mullahs working for them but shahe shahan ran off from them. He could not take the heat. This can mean a lot for the politically informed.

Shah had enough time to prove himself but he could not care less. He was so full of himself and so bloody stupid he did not realise if he did stay in Iran he would be consider as a hero. It seems his supporters do not understand the meaning of 'hero'. I do not blame them at all. Simply because there was nothing heroic about that useless regime. No self respecting shah's supporter would agree what shah did was right and hopfully his action will be reflected in history as a useless king. The greatest generals always stayed by their army and fought. They either won as a legend or died as a hero. Shah had no idea what was expected of him. He was so out of order he cried when he left Iran. I do not think in human history any of Roman leaders or other leaders far after them ever cried like the pathetic shah did. Every good leader has a plan A then plan B and so on until the trouble is passed. What was his plans. Well at least 12 month before the revolution he knew his time has come, what was his plans? To tell his tartish wife, Farah, to export her jewellery out of the country. Then to cry and leave the country. How could he lose when he had so much support? Do you want to know why? Well because some losers are born as losers.

The day he was leaving Iran he did not forget to put his medals on but he did forget leaving behind so many of his supporters. From the bottom of my heart I am so sorry for those who think he was better for us. The reality is that he was not any better than mullahs.

Another of his wrong moves which is ignored, he married a few time solely to have a prince, well with the education that he had why didn't he know having son has nothing to do with the mother. Even uneducated people know this. If this was his intelligence then one should not question his supporters intelliegence. Just rememeber the old persian saying, " divaneh chon divaneh binad khoshash iyad".

How pity

Well, just as I thought

Another foul mouth idiot with no prospect of time, technology, world affairs and no information about history of his own country or the past project

You see mate, not knowing about the past and the fact surrounding these matters is one thing, however not wanting to know and burying your head in sand while your bare ass is pointing height to sky wide open and ready to be taken by British, Americans and the West is quiet another

Now, let’s examine some of your examples. In 1979 the internet did not exits any where in the world except as secret military project in American defence labs. So expecting to have something 20 years before it becomes commercialised in quiet an unrealistic demand, especially since it was not your invention in the first place
Also satellite TV has only been around for 15 years and most people in Iran use it despite the policies of the IRI and not because of it. In1979 the British TV had only three channels and the Iran National TV had two

The project for Tehran's metro started in 1976. However because of the revolution,
war and more importantly an incompetent government of mullahs it was shelved for many years until a few years ago when it finished way over time and budged (just look up the story of carriages which were bought from China that did not fit the rails and are now rusting in the Tehran Raah Ahan Storage)

The construction of Boshehr nuclear facilities started in early 1970s and it was nearly finished by 1979. This was done by the Hoveyda’s administration and with the help of German contractors. Furthermore if it was not for the disasterus mayhem of 1979 and the incompetent government that followed it for the next 28 years, we would have over 5 fully functioning nuclear reactors supplying the electricity for not only Iran but the whole region. Now if I wanted to goon about Abadan Refinery and Ahvas Petrochemical plant this article will become too long

Hence my friend to all your perceptions of progress made by mullahs I would say too little too late and certainly too incompetently

You see, the problem is that most of the people who speak against Shah’s Regime have never been living during that era and did not see the prosperity of high oil prices, low inflation and steady progress and most definitely did not experience the transformation of Iran from a country just like today’s Afghanistan into a developing one. Further more most of them have never had the courage to peak up a few non bias books to find out about the world affairs and the issues involved for themselves. They are simply trapped in their own puny little world without seeing or even wanting to see the bigger picture and never read anything other that the material provided in IRI’s schools.

How pity

Face it, the Shah was an asshole

There was no satellite TV during the Shah's time
There was no internet
There was no subway in Tehran
Iran did not have nuclear energy
The Shah was a fucking loser.
The Shah stole Iran's money and fled to Egypt to be fucked up the ass by that monkey Anwar Sadat. Let's not forget that when the Shah left france sent Khomeini back to Tehran. Farah Pahlavi has a house in France. She is the one who probably told Khomeini to go back home to Tehran. I piss and shit on the Pahlavis. Fuck them.

Face up to your responsibility

Dear amirkabear4u

To get your answer about why shah was over thrown please read some books and familiarise yourself with the region history over the past century you can start by reading the book a century of war

Here is a link

//www.netnative.com/news/06/mar/1090.html

Then you can read the Great War For Civilisation, by Robert Fisk, and the last but not the list read the book Answer to History by the Shah himself to give the man a chance to defend himself and put his side of story across, instead of being the judge jury and executioner all by your self

What is the saddest part about the attitude of this nation and specially our self proclaimed so called “intellectuals” is that after paying a hefty price for our stupid mistake still we are not accepting that we were in wrong and we were used to advance the interest of west and western multinational oil companies such as Shell and BP.

Although we are still being punished and humiliated in every way for that stupid act in 1979, we are still trying to make pathetic excuses and shift the blame to others

Nobody said that the Shah's regime was perfect and Iran was a utopia. However comparing the state of Iran’s economy and social factors such as health, education women’s right and many more issues and where we were after the fall of Ghajaar dynasty with where we were in 1979, any fair minded non bias person would come to one conclusion that Shah and his father have achieved a lot and of course they had still along way to go had they been given the chance but and at least we where on the right path.

Further more which one of us have lived a perfect life and fulfilled all our duties and obligations toward our country and society or even did not take advantage of the situation when we were able to do so

It is so easy to blame others and imagine that we could have a perfect utopia in our mind without having to put any efforts towards it or making any sacrifices, but when it comes to taking responsibility and admitting our mistakes when its due, there are not many of us who have the courage to do so.

So I am afraid until that day comes as you yourself put it so elegantly we will remain a backward and sad Nation that we are

And that's a promise

I agree with Shah and his

I agree with Shah and his regime were not that good. Also we have a lot of problems with the current regime. So what!! These points are irrelevant as the "anti Iranian" war machine is moving forward. How many of you know about Operation Orchard? The war is coming to Iran and a country not united will break. The plans are laid out. The arial attacks will damage all Iranian air defenses and sensitive targets. We can not look toward our past all the times and wonder about the years long gone.

Thank you Dariush

Thank you Dariush

In reposne to Haeri comment

In reposne to Haeri comment .What do you look forward to? US attack?!?!

Javid Shah

Javid Shah

Hey anonymous 007...

F**K YOU! YOU FAT J*W BOY! LIKE IT OR NOT , YOU WILL BE PUSHED INTO THE SEA

Completely agreed. It is

Completely agreed. It is unfortunate to think Iranians are so lost and have nothing but looking back into futility.

WE ARE A SAD NATION

It is with great regreat that there are still educated Iranians who see Shah a leader. One questions is always left unanswered. If he was such a good king why on earth he was overthrown by mullahs??? It is also interesting to know that it was the Iranian and the international community that helped Iran to be modernized NOT shah.

The Monarchy in hind sight

Let us figure this out.

A 4 Star general is equal to an E-1 private in the US Army. They suck. The f-14 is no longer in use. The Shah sucked so bad that he got buried in Egypt, he's lucky he has an arab name, he fits in there in Egypt. F**k the Shah, F**k Farah and F**k all Iranian Monarchists.

In the same scene at Bell

In the same scene at Bell you also see General Reza Naji behind the queen, he was military governor of Esfahan.He was executed on the first day of the revolution along with general Rahimi, Nassiri and others.

There in the Simorgh's radiant face they saw

Themselves, the Simorgh of the world-with awe

They gazed, and dared at last to comprehend

They were the Simorgh and the  journey's end.

Here is the Official Website of the Imperial Iranian Air Force

If you are looking for info or feedback on the Imperial Iranian Air Force, here it he official website:

 //www.IIAF.net/

 It should be noted that this website focuses on the Golden Crown Unit which was the Acrobatic Team of the Imperial Airforce. But they do have a complete review of the Imerial Iranian AirForce (IIAF)

Best,

DK

General Khosrowdad (?) briefing Empress Farah Pahlavi ...

At 14:00 through the video clip, you can see Empress Farah Pahlavi visiting the Bell Helicopter International – Iran facilities east of Isfahan, one of the largest outside of US. Also visible right behind her in the clip at 13:47, I believe (somebody please confirm this) the late Major General (MG) Manoucher Khosrowdad briefing her along with other members of the Imperial Iranian Army Aviation (IIAA = Havaneerooz). Needless to say that the late General Khosrowdad still maintains several records on the flight time and flight
altitude he personally achieved in 1975. God bless the personnel of the Imperial
Iranian Armed Forces. For more info, please visit:

//www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/4216/

//www.vtol.org/awards/wjkaward.html

I can't watch this stuff any more

to see where we were in 1979 and where we are now,it's just heart breaking, it's utterly sad and trajic. To see a man who spend bulk of his life trying to bring people up from the stone age to modernity and in the end isntead of thank you, he get's curse from the same people he tried to help.... 

We have gone backwards since 1979!

Shah and his regime were by no means perfect or without faults. But our path since 1979 shows a backward trend.

Consider the advancements and infrastructure progress since 1979 that IRI seeks to take credit for. They were mostly either projects that were originally concieved and planned by Shah's administration or are projects that would have inevitably been done under any regime in the past 2 decades with so much oil revenue. Sierre Leone would have had more highways if she had sold so much oil!

And considering other aspects such as social and economic changes under IRI, we have definitely lost ground and been going backwards!

Mr. Kadivar: Have you seen

Mr. Kadivar: Have you seen the late Shah's interview with Mike Wallace:

//youtube.com/watch?v=BcvnKmjjmMI

And this one

//youtube.com/watch?v=06Hb1S2vD8E&mode=related&search=

  You find out from

  You find out from the chronology given during the documentary that at  least parts of the documentary were shot in october/november 1977 to be precise,  and the rest either at the same time or before, because the weather looks fairly warm.it was aired on Swiss tv in early 1978.

   I'll leave it up to Darius Kadivar to translate it in full but to sum it up,  you get a very good picture of the shah's goals, opinions and psychology right before the first street clashes started a couple of months after these interviews.He sounds very critical of the West:in his eyes, they try to insidiously continue colonialism through a hold on world economy and artificial inflation, and that's why Iran will continue a policy of high oil prices.He even lectures westerners for being permissive, lazy and over-consuming.At the same time he regrets that Iran depends on Western technical know-how but has no choice but to cooperate if it wants to progress. His overall goal is fast economical growth and be among the five top non-nuclear economies in the world by the year 2000.

   As for human rights, he regrets that there have been some excesses in the handling of prisoners but that, at the same time, time is short and Iran cannot afford to let a few people stop it in its march towards progress.

   We see Sadat visiting the shah in Iran two weeks before his first and historical visit to Israel two weeks later.The two men were close.The shah had helped Sadat politically and financially in the past.

  By comparison with his english interviews, the shah barely has any accent in French and sounds more fluid.He's obvioulsy very comfortable in talking about world affairs and the role that Iran can play in the overall economy.In another segment of the interview that is not seen here, he plainly states his conviction that he is being divinely protected(his childhood dreams of imam Reza or Ali, his near deaths) and has a mission to steer Iran towards its great destiny.

There in the Simorgh's radiant face they saw

Themselves, the Simorgh of the world-with awe

They gazed, and dared at last to comprehend

They were the Simorgh and the  journey's end.

Not that I know of unfortunately ...

No its just in French since it was a Swiss Documentary. I hope I can translated it accurately into English in a near future or at least a summary of the issues covered. It was a rare interview where the Shah was very open to all questions made by the Swiss French journalist including in regard to Human Rights and international and national politics. The Shah was less tense or on the defensive with the French Press in general unlike with most anglo saxon or American Journalists at the time. Probably because of his French education and also because he was felt less threatened by the European countries than by the new American Administration of Jimmy Carter.

English Subtitles?

do you know if there is an english subtitled version of this documentary? thanks.