Dr. Mossadegh

Great patriot? Yes!

Hero of Oil nationalization? Yes!

One of the most popular political figures in our history, at one time, and overall? Yes!

Did we all (and the whole Middle East) cheer when he lead us to victory against the British empire in Hague? You bet!

His patriotism and untouchability is unparalleled in the last 100 years in Iranian history.

There are a few things, though,that are puzzling to me. I was not alive then, so I get my information from books, as well as some eye witnesses, and things just don’t add up. I am old enough to remember the extreme popularity of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. A coup against him would have resulted in a huge bloodshed, even if successful; thousands would have died for him at the time.

In regards to Dr. Mossadegh, I don’t understand how his one time massive support folded so easily. Maybe you can help me understand, because I know many of you have a rational view, and not an emotional one.

Imagine this for a moment: In 2004, GW Bush, just elected President, was popular. By law, he took office and has been there since (We have another year to suffer!).

What if Bill Clinton, still very popular in the U.S., lead a military operation against GW and took over as Commander in Chief. Would this be legal (though popular)? Democracy, and the rule of law, do not work like that. Popularity is not the same as the law!

In 1952, when the Shah removed Mossadegh ( well, Mossadegh kind of quit on the Shah), and appointed Ghavam, thousands got on the streets everywhere, 30-40 got killed in clashes with the armed forces. Shah, by the power vested in him by the Constitution, removed Ghavam consequently, and reappointed Mossadegh.

By summer of 1953, some say, Mossadegh had lost much of his popularity (we know it happens, as we see it every day. G Bush Sr. was enjoying approval ratings of 85% right after the first Gulf war, but it sank to 40’s a year later. It happens in politics).

In absence of the Majlis, under the previous Constitution, the Shah had the power to remove the Prime Minister, and appoint a new one; and this is exactly what he did. Mossadegh did not want to go, so the Army ( with , or without the foreign intervention) removed him. Where is the coup ??

Not even 50 people got killed in the clashes, which is unheard of (compared to thousands in, say, Chile). Where was everybody? Or was it, that the average person on the street was tired of instability, unemployment, chaos, emotional speeches, and the constant fear of the Northern neighbor, the almighty Soviet Union,that was always ready to swallow us!?

Public opinion changes constantly. Churchill and De Gaulle were national heros of their times, but were booted out of office in a matter of years. Is it just remotely possible, that the crowd who hailed Mossadegh in 1951 shrunk by 1953?

Mossadegh got 3 years in jail, and then was exiled to his house. His hardcore supporters, Jebeh-eh-melli members, just about all got pardoned, and held high jobs, many in the government, until the 1979 revolution.

14 (I believe 14; don’t quote me on this, but definately under 20) communist members of the armed forces got executed for treason ( This is what it is called, weather we like it or not, anywhere in the world, if you are a member of the armed forces and you conspire to overthrow the government; even here in the good old U.S. It’s treason, and you are court marshalled, and if you are convicted, you face the firing squat. Period!)

Had his government survived, chances are, we would have been the diamond of the Middle East, first real democracy in the region. But again, there are those who argue, we would have fallen in the skirt of USSR just like half of Europe, Korea, Vietnam and Cuba did. The Russian tanks would have come, just like they did in Hungary in 1956, in the Czech republic in 1968, or like they did earlier in 1945 in Iran’s Azerbaijan .

And today, with the fall of the wall, we’d have a position like North Korea or Cuba or Kazakhstan, and we’d be reading articles published by “Borat Rot Wine”!

God bless Mossadegh

God bless Iran

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