Of the 336 pages in The Complete Idiot's Guide to the CIA the only thing most Iranians care about — i.e., the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh — fits neatly into a few lines replete with a plethora of factual errors, in a section dubiously called “Notable Successes”.
And I quote:
In 1953, the shah [sic], recently overthrown [sic] in Iran, was put back in power [sic] after the CIA [sic] overthrew Dr. Mohammed [sic] Mossadegh, a left-wing [sic] revolutionary [sic]. This successful [sic] joint CIA/United Kingdom op was called Operation Ajax [sic].
And now, a brief explanation of the [sic]s:
(1) “shah” should be written as Shah since it is a proper noun referring to a specific person.
(2) The Shah was not overthrown. He fled. As in: “Goodbye, I'm running for my safety. Screw the rest.”
(3) The Shah never really wielded any significant “power” (or much of anything) before 1953.
(4) This was a joint CIA/MI-6 operation, with most of the guidance and strategy coming from MI-6.
(5) The good doctor preferred the spelling “Mohammad”.
(6) Mossadegh was a nationalist through and through. If the left-wing supported him (which conjecture itself is debatable), it does not make him a left-winger.
(7) It's true that Mossadegh introduced revolutionary ideas (such as kicking the British leeches out of Iran's oil industry, instilling confidence and a certain bravado in a much-maligned populace, and fighting antiquated ideas and dogmas), but he was the popularly elected Prime Minister of the country. I guess one could call him revolutionary in the sense of a Teddy Roosevelt, a Gandhi, or a JFK.
(8) In the myopic limited view of an operation, it might be deemed successful. But in the larger longer-term view, its success is certainly debatable. [see Stephen Kinzer's All the Shah's Men]
(9) It's official CIA operational name is TPAJAX.
Did the author's realize this was a book for idiots and not by idiots?! >>> See “”
