Pictory

Nemesis

Listen you filthy subhuman mullah scum!
You were never able to murder Bakhtiar!
You can not murder The Truth!
You can not murder Freedom!
You can not murder Human Rights!
You can not murder 60 million Human Beings!
You can not murder Iran!
You can not murder Justice!
Justice cries condemnation!
Justice Shall prevail!
The handwriting is on the wall!
Your days are numbered!
You are doomed to destruction!
You are accursed and condemned to eternal damnation!
You shall all be destroyed!
So it is written!
SO IT SHALL BE!

I never voted for IRI .

and I stood on my own ground. Like Mr. Bakhtiar said; the faith is everything. Fear, hatred, doubt and resentment paralyzed people, so they couldn't make the right decision. Unfortunately, the majority are still frightened by their own thought process and IRI is taking the most advantage of this situation. Mullahs are monsters because we made them monsters in our minds. They are nothing in front of the wave of strong faith of Iranian nation. Iran will change when people of Iran change.

Also see

//iranian.com/FaribaAmini/2003/January/Ba...

We are children of Iranian cultural autocracy!

We all are children of cultural autocracy; I am one of them. In such a culture, individuals never have a real chance to develop their minds and form their views. As a result, even if they get a chance to chose---regardless of the quality of the process and options---they do not have necessary tools and skills to understand their options and chose appropriately.

I do remember what people were saying about Dr. Bakhtiar without even knowing the real issues! I was one of them—an idiot of cultural autocracy. It was not just me------ a teenager who just had started to explore without having proper resources a few year prior, all political organizations and political leaders bowed to a Mullah. Some times I wonder whether these supposed political leaders had ever read and understood Iranian history, especially the role of Mullahs.

That is what happened to me and all other Iranians 28 yeas ago. We got a limited and directed chance to chose; but 99 percent of Iranians voted for IRI régime.

No one knew what IRI regime would look like; and what kind of laws would be established. But still they voted “Yes.” This is Iranian autocracy cultural product; it cannot produce anything else unless people obtain proper tools and skills gradually…….and practice ….

Haj Mand Hashem

I agress with you, and that is why likes of I (accused shihs) get angry when people attack shah without (1) placing blame on their own shoulders and/or shoulders of all iranians who were saying in 1979 that "it does not matter what happens next as long as shah leaves". (2) without offering an alternative and considering that people had an alternative (aka, bakhtiar) and rejected him. Maybe people did not deserve any better than mullas as harsh as this conjecture might be.
Had people had the maturity to select/elect someone objectively better than shah, all of us accused shahis would have been perfectly content to approve of that choice. In the absence of that maturity, we cling to shah as he was the last best choice and at least better than what we showed to have deserved, aka mullas.

Payam... Darius... Kaveh....

That is the problem, that most say I read it here and heard it there... but we need to take a lesson from how we were lied to and deceived by mullas, who claimed to be morale and spreaders of god's words, through continuous lying and deception that has continued to this day.
.
Darius Kadivar: Have you said that bakhtiar was paid by saddam. Please clarify and give your sources. Thank you.
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Kaveh: you are right, the heavy load should be on the shoulders of everyone who supported IRI one way or the other. Without that support, they would not be here, or they would have been long gone.

Any reasonable person can tell you ..

that regardless of how bad the Shah "may" or "may not" have been, that we as Iranians came out of The Shallow "Chaleh" of the Shah, and fell "Directly" into the Deep "Chah" of these Madar Ghahbeh Akhonnda.

I agree that "facts" must be backed by a reliable source.

But in this case I am not sure which source sugested that Bakhtiar accepted Iraqi money. I believe I read this in one of Cyrus Kadivar's old publications in which he explores the events leading to Iran-Iraq war. It explored Nojeh uprising, the role of Manouchehr Ghorbanifar in this and the following execution (paksazi) of armed forces eventually robbing Iran of all it's scilled men and women who had the task of defending Iran against any military threat, thus opening the gates to Saddam's army to march through Iran.

I have to add that because of my father being an air force officier back then at a major air base, my family and I exprienced this up close and personal.

I hope.....

that every person who at one time or another supported the IRI, and contributed to the prevention of Iran continuing its forward progress fully understands their responsibility and culpability in seeing our homeland in its present state.

At the Gate of Paradize

May his soul enter the paradize for his cleansiness, his perfume, and his good persian voice...

Hey Payam...

Do you have a reliable proof that he conspired with saddam? There are so many loose language and accusations on this and similar sites (see John Carpenters' childish posts) that nothing has any value unless backed by proof. So it is NOT a fact until proven so, e.g., by his own admission. The whole iranian revolution was really a coup, not by arms, but by lies, the principal tool of deceit, by the biggest lier, khomeini and his islamic gangsters.

Lets not forget the fact that ...

... he indeed coconspired with Saddam during Iran-Iraq war. That act may have shown his true character, that of a opportunist. I sincerely hope to see a complete coverage of the facts that lead to the 1357 revolution. It would rather be interesting to see the true powers at that time and their chess game of concurring Iran.

Patriot / traitor ...Darius / historical fiction...

Brief synopsis of Jorge Luis Borges' "Theme of the Traitor and the Hero" "A story is told of a few Irish rebels. While plotting their newest campaign, the leader of the rebels is killed by one of his subordinates—one of his most trusted fellow rebels. Consequently, another one his friends tried to give him a message of his pending doom, but the message was ill received. Borges notes that the careful reader will notice the similarity between this story and that of Julius Ceasar. This is no coincidence. In fact, every event is history has its parallel in literature, and vice versa. All of history is simply a combination of repeating themes; in this case the theme of the traitor and the hero. What we perceive as free will is nothing of the sort; we are all just characters acting out one or more predetermined themes."

This writer neglects to note that in the story Borges raises the question as to whether the traitor and the hero are in fact (or in essence) the same person....

A true patriot

He was a great man, a true human being,a patriot, a man convictions. If you read his short interview/bookt "37 rooz pas as 37 sal" you develope enormous repect for this man.

I believe he was far greater person than mossadegh ever was. While the other one had a benefit of everything and ended up taking a country to chaos and mayham, bakhtiar tried to rescue the country from chaos and ultimately prevent islamo facists nightmare of the past twenthy eights years.

He was a right man, but he was at a wrong place and a wrong time. Iran needed iron fist policy then, but with angelo american alliance who wanted shah out and backed khomeini there was not much of chance for success.

Darius

I agree with you wholeheartedly on your definition of Bakhtiar.

Best.

TRAITOR TRAITOR TRAITOR

Undoubtedly, a pathetic, desperate
and cheap TRAITOR.
May gods bless his soul.

Parham

I Share your arguments.

In anycase it is an era that needs to be studied carefully and with objectivity ( and less emotion from both the Republican and Royalist Point of View ) in order to understand what went wrong or at best what surfaces as true in regard to the turn of the events.

However tempting I do not believe in conspiracy theories in regard to the the Revolution because this important and alas ( from my point of view ) popular upheaval had deep roots that were planted at various degrees throughout the last century. The Revolution was a perversion of the true aspirations that Iranians nurtured since 1906 and Mossadegh's nationalization attempts. What is certain is that it is truly the early revolts of Khomeiny back in 1963 ( in opposition to the White Revolution Reforms ) that planted the "Bad" and Fatal "Seeds of discontent" that ultimately won in 1979 over the more moderate and pragmatic approach of the intelligensia at large.

Unfortunately or Fortunately History is also defined by Men and Women of Conviction for the  Good or Bad Reasons.

I think however that Iranian History does include some "positive" hero's who despite their flaws can serve as role models to the Nation and its struggle for Freedom, Justice and ultimately Democracy.

Shapour Bakhtiar certainly corresponds to this definition

Darius

Thanks for your counter-point.

As you say, this would be debatable. What I believe is Mossadeq and Bakhtiar weren't different at all in their beliefs considering the type of regime -- both wanted the constitutional monarchy as established in 1906, however they wanted it applied as it was, and not applied as it was done by the regime. "The Shah should reign and not rule" was a belief of both.

Would the Shah have chosen a Mossadeq-like figure earlier in the stream of developments that led to the revolution than he did Bakhtiar? We will never know, but it's a possibility. Would that have changed the course of what happened? A possibility, but then there's a possibility things would have been different had the Shah chosen Bakhtiar instead of the likes of Azhari and Sharif-Emami already.

As for Ghotbzadeh, I'd have to disagree there, as Ghotbzadeh's "attempt", if it could be qualified as that, was nowhere near the organization that the Nojeh activities had reached. In fact, Nojeh was all on the way when it was aborted.

Cheers.

Thanks Parham

Hi Parham,

Yes you are probably correct in regard to the fact that Mossadeg also accepted the post of Prime Minister but in the major difference is probably that the historical circumstances were very different.

Mossadeg was spearheading the Oil Nationalization and it should be noted that his PremierShip Led to the Crisis ( for Good or Wrong Reason's which is debateable) where as Bakhtiar moved in as a solution to solving an existing crisis.  

Mossadeg's patriotism and all the iconic imagery which is associated to him prevails. The question is that by accepting the post of Prime Minister Bakhtiar was already at odds with the Jebhehyeh Melli aka National Front.

In an attempt of Historical Fiction ( Impossible but interesting nevertheless ) It would be interesting to know what would have been Mossadegh's choice in the face of the Crisis. Needless to say that had he been alive he would have certainly represented a counterpoint to the Religious Theocracy Rebellion turned to Revolution.

Given Bakhtiar's assessment of the political situation,  it would seem that he ( Mossadeg)  would have chosen to be named Prime Minister ( Despite an Advanced Age) against odds even if he would most probably try to reach a general consesus on abolishing the monarchy and establishing a Secular Democratic Republic. Given the Ayatollah's power of persuasion on the large masses, one can only make suppositions as to which vision would prevail: Khomeini's vision of Politics and Society summed up in his Green Book "Tozihol Massael" or Mossadegh's Secular Agenda ? Or Would Mossadegh like the later leaders of the National Front Seek a compromise with Khomeiny, thinking that the Ayatollah was manipulateable and would end up retiring in Qom as a humble Citizen.

I leave the debate to Historians specialized on the era. However what is certain is the Bakhtiar clearly chose his camp by accepting the post of Prime Minister of a crumbling Monarchy not in the hope of bringing the Shah back in Power but by restoring the Power of an elected Parliament. At Best for the Monarchists he would transfer the Regal representation to the Queen ( As the Cosntitution of the Time allowed)  until the age of majority of The Crown Prince ( that is 20) but all governmental Power would be in his hands and that of the parliament until the crisis would end ( with or without bloodshed).

The Dilemma and challenge for Bakhtiar would have been immense in that he did not wish a Turkish Style Regency ( where any Civil government would be at the mercy of some High Ranked Ambitious General) and at the same time he had to restore the confidence of Iran's major allies in the West particularly the US in Iran's new government. Would he have the support of a portion of the Army ? Probably the ground forces since the Shah kind of passed on his powers to Bakhtiar directly. However as you know at the same time the American Administration was willing to compromise with the Mullah's at all cost in order to avoid Soviet Expansionism and General Hauser I believe dismantled the Army in its entirety be it the ground forces, the Airforce or the Navy by interfering in the decision makings and confusing the military hiararchy to the dismay of Bakhtiar and even the Top Brass generals most of whom were executed in the aftermath of the revolution. Beyond the Elite Forces that is the Imperial Guards, no Unit was ready to defend the government at all costs.

As for the Nojeh Plan :

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydsa8fGSMwY

I do not know the exact details of the operation but it is clear that it was one of those tragic events like the German Operation Valkirie that the German High Officers tried to plot against Hitler in the last years of the Nazi Rule ( All comparison's being simply metaphoric of course).

The Army was very discontent at the turn of the events with the start of the War with Iraq and as you may know Sadeg Gobtzadeh who was close to the Ayatollah and was minister of Information also tried toppling Khomeiny with the help of some former officers of the Imperial Era and failed and was executed after claiming his innocence as well as his anger against the Ayatollah in the Majlis.

I don't have the Video on youtube but if anyone does, it would be interesting to situate the exact context with historical  feedback.

DK

To Darius

Thanks for the piece below.

There is a part where you say, and I quote, "despite having been in prison during the Shah's era, and for his allegience to the political and moral legacy of Dr. Mossadeg he accepted the post of Prime Minister from the man who had put him in prison: the Shah himself. "

The reality is that Mossadeq had also accepted the post of Prime Minister despite him being sort of a "dissident" and having been through almost the same things with Reza Shah, so that part doesn't sound correct.

Also, let's not forget the Nojeh attempted coup, which beside the attempt by the MKO at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, has been the only genuine move to change things around by an opposition group during the past 29 years.

Bakhtiar was a True Democrat

Shapour Bakhtiar was a True Democrat, an Intellectual and ultimately a Martyr who died in the name of his beliefs. He was unfortunately a clumsy politician for an opposition in exile, not because he lacked credentials but because he would say exactly what he believed in to the dismay of many professional politicians. He wrote an autobiography in French entitled Ma Fidelité which could be translated as My Beliefs:

//www.amazon.fr/Ma-fid%C3%A9lit%C3%A9-Bakhtiar/dp/2226015612/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198675184&sr=8-8

Despite having been in Prison during the Shah's Era, and for his allegience to the Political and moral Legacy of Dr. Mossadeg he accepted the post of Prime Minister from the Man who had put him in Prison: the Shah himself. Named too lately, the goverment of Prime Minister Bakhtiar struggled to survive for 37 Days:

//iranian.com/CyrusKadivar/2003/March/37days/

He was abandoned by his own Party the National Front which joined the Revolutionaries and the Mullahs certainly in the name of Real Politics than genuine conviction. The Forouhars: Dariush and Parvin alas proved to become victimes of their own momentarial pact with the Devil by confusing their own secular ideals with Religious Theocrats. As Much as the Forouhars Bakhtiar was a patriot but unlike the Forouhars he was without doubt a visionary far in advance for his time.

In Exile Bakhtiar was caught between his personal convictions as a democrat and his responsabilities as an opposition leader who had to satisfy huge dilemma's including support for Iraq during the War with Iran (which unlike the MKO lasted for a very short period) and finding common ground between different opposition forces ranging from Monarchists ( radical or Constituional ), former leftists as well as secular Republicans.

See actress and future Oscar Nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo introduce one of Shapour Bakhtiar's conferences in LA :

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMvWKRtbs9A

Bakhtiar was also to become a Role Model and close advisor for the former Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi and was also to visit the Shah's tomb in Cairo to pay respect to the former monarch shortly after his demise.

Had he been nominated Prime Minister much earlier in the early days of the Crisis in Iran, his government would certainly have had greater chances of restoring calm and authority while avoiding bloodshed. Alas that was not to be the case and what appears with the passage of time is that Bakhtiar's shortlived government proved to serve as an example of what a moderate and pragmatic administration could have looked like had his ideas of secularism ( be it Constitutional or Republican) could have looked like in a peaceful Iran where Law and Justice would prevail over anarchy and religious or authocratic Rule.

History will remember Bakhtiar as a genuine patriot and certainly a democrat in practice. Married to a French national during his student days in Paris, he was influenced by the French values of Democracy and Resistance and he was to join the French Resitance during WWII and fought the Fascists in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. In many ways he was also influenced by the Enlighting French Philosophers " Les Lumieres " such as Voltaire and Rousseau that shaped his political and moral convictions. This proved at times a handicap to the Politician he was enforced on becoming but certainly not on the genuine democrat he was.

Bakhtiar years before the Forouhars, in the early 90's was executed along with his secretary by Islamic Republics Death Squads who cut their thoats. His Assassins are still on the Run ( partly thanks to the former French Governments indulgence).

But Bakhtiar's moral and political legacy live on.

Will Reza Pahlavi who in many ways has benefited from Bakhtiar's teachings prove to live up to the ideals of the former and last Prime Minister of Imperial Iran ? The answer to that question can only be answered with time and by the heir to Iran's Peacock Throne be it as a catalyst for change or future Constitutional King.

What is certain is the Bakhtiar's Political thinking and struggle for which he gave his life in the process will remain as a reference not of Martyrism but of Death in the Struggle for a Secular and Democtatic Iran where Freedom cannot be achieved without an unconditional support for Human Rights.

However the British are despised by Iranians, nevertheless maybe in a comparative study of Iran's contemporary history and that of Great Britian and of France, Shapour Bakhtiar will have his Statue Raised in Front of the Iranian Majlis as a Reminder of the Nation's Struggle for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity (France)  as those of Cromwell or Winston Churchill in Front of Westminister.

VIVE LA LIBERTE ! 

The only thing I know is

The only thing I know is what i saw on LA tv (farsi)
He was interviewed and was asked if he had received 6 million dollars from saddaaam to do his opposition work.
He answered:
We will get money from any source willing to help us.
It was his own words for admitting bad behavior.
So I did not care and will not listen to his supporters.
To be in friend with saddamis is a crime in my bible.

Hero

He was a hero because he acted like hero, at first during World War II (in France) and he tried to save his country and he was killed by Traitors.

Traitors are still alive in Iran or in Los Angeles and shame on them.

When you listen him; in  your head, you hear : Ei Iran Ei Marez Porgohar ...

To answer  "by me" and Islamdoost : Khaliegh Harche Laiiegh : You deserve the trairors who rule you.

Traitor

A Traitor all the way through - a Traitor to his country and his followers - SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who is this guy ?

The guy interviewing Shapour Bakhtiar, what is his name ? Does anybody know please ? 

Recommended Reading: Dialogue of murder by CK

Dialogue of murder
A cautionary tale that must not be forgotten

by Cyrus KADIVAR

//iranian.com/CyrusKadivar/2003/January/Murder/2.html

Also :

Out in force
Photo essay: Demonstration outside IRI embassy in London

//iranian.com/CyrusKadivar/2003/July/London2/

God bless him

He was a modern, educated and honest man. He thrived for democracy in Iran and sacrificed himself finally.

Just look at him and compare him with Ahmadinejad or other monsters in IRI. Shaved, polite, educated and kind. He may rest in peach with the lord.

Javid Iran!

Truly he was:

Nokare bee Ekhtiar