 Notable
success!
A
complete idiot's guide to the CIA
By Moe
September 14, 2003
The Iranian
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 "Replies
in easrnest"
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