Further confirmation of US overthrow of Mossadegh

J. F Dulles and Allen Dulles

by Richard Mellor

AFSCME Local 444, retired 

Much of the world knew it but as is often the case, most of the American people, living with perhaps the most censored and controlled mass media in the advanced capitalist economies, had no idea that the US was behind the overthrow of the secular democratic regime of Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran in 1953.  The US also ousted the government of Guatemala the following year deposing President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán.

Guzman was taking steps to distribute land to the peasants and introduce other economic reforms that were holding back development in that country.  The United Fruit Company, a US multinational owned 42% of the arable land in Guatemala at the time and the CIA’s covert operation was set in motion to do what the CIA is there for, defend the US corporation’s profits at all costs. The excuse in the US media was the illegal invasion was necessary to repel communist tyranny in the US’s back yard.

The US Dulles brothers were influential in both coups as John Foster Dulles was secretary of state under Eisenhower and his brother Allen ran the CIA.  They were both on the payroll of United Fruit Company as well.  In fact, the Eisenhower administration was well connected to the UFC just like government and the private sector is today:

John Foster Dulles, who represented United Fruit while he was a law partner at Sullivan & Cromwell – he negotiated that crucial United Fruit deal with Guatemalan officials in the 1930's – was Secretary of State under Eisenhower; his brother Allen, who did legal work for the company and sat on its board of directors, was head of the CIA under Eisenhower; Henry Cabot Lodge, who was America's ambassador to the UN, was a large owner of United Fruit stock; Ed Whitman, the United Fruit PR man, was married to Ann Whitman, Dwight Eisenhower's personal secretary. You co uld not see these connections until you could – and then you could not stop seeing them. The Fish that Ate the Whale, p. 186. By Rich Cohen,

The Mossadegh government was about to nationalize the Iranian oil industry that was in the hands of British imperialism at the time and the British asked for US assistance.  The New York Times reports that George Washington University, under the Freedom of Information Act, obtained documentation confirming the CIA’s role in the ouster of Mossadegh, the most explicit proof to date.

These are just two examples of many instances of interference in the affairs of other countries and we could throw in the installation of Mobutu and the resulting deaths of some two million Congolese under that dictator’s rule after the murder of Lumumba by pro US/Belgian forces. Pinochet, Marcos, the murderous Shah of Iran the US installed after removing Mossadegh, the thugs that rule Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden, the former CIA agent are all the Pentagon’s babies.

Perhaps we Americans might reflect on these historical facts and consider the source when we are fed propaganda by the 1%’s mass media about reactions to US foreign policy.  Especially as we could end up supporting a conflict with Iran over supposed nuclear weapons. One can’t blame the Iranians for wanting nuclear weapons though they have repeatedly denied that their nuclear policy is anything but peaceful; the US never invaded North Korea and there’s a lesson there.

Given the history, US government/CIA credibility when it comes to bringing the truth to its own population is pretty poor. As for the Iranians and other victims of US corporate foreign policy, some people have reason to be a suspicious.

A decent book on the US overthrow of the democratic government of Iran in 1953 is All The Shah’s Men by Steven Kinzer

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US and Israel Middle East policy threatens us all.

by Richard Mellor, Afscme Local 444, retired

I picked up a Wall Street Journal this morning and the first headline I see is: “US Bulks Up to Combat Iran.” .  It seems the war boys at the Pentagon have spent $400 million of our money upgrading the “Massive Ordinance Penetrator”, or MOP for short or  “bunker buster” bomb in more popular jargon.

I am confused.  Has Iran threatened to invade the United States?  Are the Iranians preparing to bomb our cities and towns? 

It doesn’t appear so.  The concern is that Iran has a nuclear program and Israel, the only state in the region with nuclear weapons, hundreds of them by all accounts,  opposes any other nation achieving nuclear statehood.  The Zionists have threatened many times to bomb Iran unilaterally.

The US admits that Iran has repeatedly announced that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. “..Iran refines fuel it maintains is intended for civilian use but the U.S. and its allies believe is destined for a nuclear weapons program.”, says the Wall Street Journal. “Its allies”primarily means Israel, but no matter what Iran says, both Washington and Tel Aviv will not accept it; being the only one armed in a conflict is a handy thing.  The possession of a nuclear arsenal though is the safest protection against US imperialist aggression.  Iranian bases do not surround the US. Iranian warships and submarines do not patrol the California coastline or have a major presence in Baja or the Gulf of Mexico.  Iran is not a threat to US workers and our families.  Iran is a threat to Dick Cheney and all the coupon clippers that profit from the oil business just like Unions are a threat to them. If the Mullahs were willing to share the loot and do Wall  Streets bidding, the oppression, lack of democracy, wouldn’t prevent a strong friendship between Tehran and Washington from developing. The US has stood idly by as an absolute monarchy has crushed violently a movement for reform in neighboring Bahrain where the US has 30,000 troops.

It appears the warmongering and threats that emanate from Washington and the Pentagon are driven by Tel Aviv.  US officials believe the “enhanced” bunker busting device, “..decreases the chances that Israel will launch a unilateral bombing campaign against Iran this year….” the WSJ reports.

US officials have been falling over themselves in their efforts to show their pro Zionist credentials, even as the Europeans have warmed somewhat to the plight of the Palestinians cramped in to the Gaza concentration camp or spread throughout the state, often at the mercy of the fascistic settler movement that the Israeli military protects. .

“President Obama and Mr Hagel have used recent visits to Israel to stress Israel’s right to decide for itself whether to strike Iran.” the WSJ reports.  The problem with this is that the consequences of such an action affects the entire world.  The reason the Zionists could take such action is that US Imperialism is behind them.  It would be easy to prevent Israel from "unilaterally" bombing anyone, we could simply stop supplying them with heavy equipment, weapons and money

These US politicians, and some celebrities like Madonna for example, visit Israel and don’t go to Gaza.  These people are complicit in the racist and brutal assault on the Palestinian people and their culture.   Why would US policy be dictated by what this tiny little enclave called Israel decides?   Israel could not possibly do what it does in the region without the financial support and weaponry it receives from the US taxpayer.  It is a murderous and racist regime that is the elephant in the room, the main destabilizing factor in the region.

As the Arab spring has shown, the Zionist regime is the only reliable ally for US imperialism in the region that allows the continued plunder of the region’s main resource, oil.  The revolutionary potential of the Arab masses is well understood by the folks at the Pentagon.  US imperialism will and has supported any regime that will allow its plunder of the region to continue unabated and even the brutal Saudi thugs are not seen as the most secure allies if and when the Saudi masses along with its imported labor force moves in to more open conflict with the regime.  The US supplies these thugs with the weaponry and technological know how to keep the masses at bay but there is a strong Arab identity encompassing million of workers and this is always a threat. 

Israel, once referred to by the British governor of Jerusalem as British Imperialism’s “Loyal little Ulster in the Middle East” after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, is the safest bet as a launching pad to defend US capitalism’s interests in the region.  Israel, the persecuted minority surrounded by a sea of hostility.  The siege mentality is useful to some, just like the Zionists benefiting from anti-semitism, peace would be an obstacle to plunder and peace can never be achieved on a permanent basis under capitalism.

After the US overthrew the democratic secular regime of Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, Washington installed the murderous Shah, known to us as the Shah of Iran.  He slaughtered any opposition to his puppet regime and was renowned for his torture chambers and his secret police, the SAVAK.   Democratic secular forces were driven underground or in to the protective custody of the Mosques, those that weren’t tortured and murdered by the Shah and his US partners.

The anti-democratic misogynistic theocracy that governs Iran is a direct result of British and US Imperialist meddling in the region. The Iranians have good reason to be suspicious of western intentions.  No worker or trade Unionist can support such a regime, but this writer for one is not afraid of Iran.  The US and its Zionist allies in the region are the most destabilizing factor in the region. Even in the Syrian conflict, it appears the US is following the same disastrous road but they are driven by the internal forces of capitalism to pursue this road.

For workers while offering no support to the Mullahs it is in our interests to build links with and strengthen the Iranian workers movement which has a militant and rich history, particularly the oil workers of Abadan. But for this writer, it is not the Mullahs I fear but the strategists at the Pentagon and the few thousand unelected leaders that govern the US and direct foreign and domestic policy.

Workers are under assault in the US, people have been evicted from their homes, denied health care, lost jobs.  The future is one of further austerity as US capitalism puts its own workers on rations to pay for its imperialist ventures. There is real danger if we do not step to the plate.  Bombing Iran would be a global disaster.  It would strengthen Islamic fundamentalism and weaken international worker solidarity. It is in our interests to actively intervene to stop the war plans of the folks in Washington and the Pentagon. The Iranian workers have a long history of struggle for economic and political freedom; they are our allies, or potential allies depending on our relationship to those who will likely decide to wage war against a another country killing many workers in the process, there and here.  We cannot allow capitalists and bankers to negotiate on our behalf, be the global face of America.  Iranians can’t eat oil; they have to sell it.  Our goal must be to negotiate with them as workers, equally and with the goal of improving the lives of everyone.

Present US foreign policy is simply an extension of domestic policy. The policy of austerity for workers and the middle class in the quest for profits for a few. It is not our policy and will lead to disaster if workers do not enter the stage with force.

Down with Wall Street, down with the Mullahs.  Build international working class solidarity

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Iran is not the problem in the Middle East. They live there.

by Richard Mellor

Leon Panetta, the US Secretary of Wars, what the US establishment refers to as a “Defense Secretary” is looking out for my interests apparently.  He warns us today in the Wall Street Journal that the “Iranian Threat Spreads”.   It’s amazing how clued in these politicians are to our concerns.  I got up this morning after a really bad night’s sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about what my life would be like if we didn’t stop the Iranians from trying to take over our country and take away our freedoms. We’re being threatened from all sides. What can we do?

The folks at the Pentagon have a spotty track record and I’m wondering if I should trust them.  They have a nose for sniffing out anti-American elements is the impression we get from the media so I’m sure they’ll discover the jump in military veteran suicides, 22 a day or one every hour or so, has something to do with the Iranians.

But in the immediate, Panetta is concerned because our trusted intelligence network says the Iranians are smuggling antiaircraft weapons to terrorists in the Middle East, Hezbollah, Hamas in Gaza and the Syrian government.

The big threat, a “serious escalation”is these antiaircraft missiles called manpads that can be carried by one person and could bring down an attack helicopter or a jet.  Can you imagine if Hamas gets these, they’ll be able to shoot down Israeli planes that bomb their homes and spray white phosphorous on them. And what good is having an attack helicopter that is a great way to kill those who have no serious means to defend themselves if they get hold of missiles that can bring US helicopters down.  Good grief, Britain’s Prince Harry could have died if the Afghans had them.

What else does Panetta say?  Oh yes, the US is going to respond to this “threat” by leading (don’t laugh) “a multination exercise in the United Arab Emirates.”.  This might sound like something multi-lateral to many Americans because so many us of haven’t a clue where or what the Emirates are.  Most people don’t realize they are just a bunch of corrupt, feudal misogynists.  The US easily bribes these guys along as they are kept in power through US taxpayer donations in the form of military hardware to keep their struggling masses (mostly imported labor) in line. The Bahrainian royal family faced a revolt from reformers that wanted democratic/religious rights and even a Republic. This was brutally suppressed including through the invasion of Saudi troops at Washington’s urging. It was all done as 30,000 US troops stood idly by.  But their job is to defend the oil industry, not democracy. In a democracy, a population would demand control over its national resources---an absolute monarchy is a safer bet.

Panetta accuses Iran of, “An intensified campaign to destabilize the Middle East” by allegedly smuggling missiles to victims of US or Israeli attack helicopters.  Had the Reuters journalist and the other civilians that a US attack helicopter mowed down, had these manpads, they might have saved their own lives.  (This is the You Tube video that Bradley Manning is facing life imprisonment for because he shared it with us.)

But wait a minute. Isn’t Iran in the Middle East?  Don’t Iranians live there? Isn’t it their part of the world?  Why would they want to destabilize everything---bring the might of the US war machine and its proxies in Israel who are armed to the teeth, down on them?

And how does this most important journal of the US capitalist class describe those in Gaza who fire homemade rockets at the right wing settlers, religious fanatics, that are the front line of the Zionist regime’s expansionary policies? “Extremists in Gaza long have used rockets in their conflict with Israel. Manpads could give them the capacity to shoot down Israeli aircraft.”  It’s incredible to any thinking person.  The occupants of the largest outdoor concentration camp in the world are “extremists”.And heavens forbid that they should have the right to shoot down US made jets that bomb their homes.

“The weapons are a major concern for Israel which borders territory controlled by Iran’s allies.” The Journal adds. The truth is that the only form of stabilization the US and the Zionist regime requires is one where ruling cliques will allow western oil companies and the coupon clippers that profit from them to continue their plunder of the region’s resources without hindrance and that only the US and Israel maintain the ability to destroy every living thing in the area.  Washington doesn’t like wars where people can fire back.

As I read this nonsense this morning I imagined the incredible anger workers in these areas must feel.  The US supports the most repressive anti-democratic regimes in the region, regimes like the Saudi’s who behead women for adultery, flog women who leave the home without a male relative’s escort and even have an official religious police who make sure you are practicing the right type of Islam. 

The US ruling class has no credibility when it talks of stabilizing anything.  There is a reason all our embassies have to be fortified, that we can’t travel to half the countries of the world anymore and that our government is so hated, and it has nothing to do with jealousy.  Iranians would not forget that the US overthrew the secular democratic government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and installed the murderous Shah.  People see how the US supports the dictatorial regime in Yemen and the absolute monarchs of Bahrain against forces fighting for democratic rights. 

It has been the British and the US and their continued support of the Apartheid state of Israel that is the major destabilizing factor in the Middle east, not just Israel, but the Arab thugs in the region as well.  The roots of terrorism and anti-American feeling lie deeply planted in US foreign policy soil.  US foreign policy is why the Mullah’s rule in Iran.

The area of activity is changing a bit as the war against terror is shifting westward to drive back the threat of marauding Tuaregs.  One thing we need to be aware of.  The increased weapons technology like drones, the increased militarization of the US population with some 20,000 border patrol officers and beefed up police and security forces, the use of these will not be confined to those opposing occupation by the imperial powers.  These will all be used domestically, against the American working class as the movement against austerity and the destruction of our living standards grows as it inevitably will. Stopping production through strikes and other forms of mass action, hurting the economy, hindering profit taking, that’s terrorism too you know, on a mass scale.

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US/Zionist aggression the destabilizing factor in the Middle East

Whose threatening whom?

The arrogance of the Zionists as the Apartheid state announces it will build 3000 more settler homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem as punishment for the Palestinians winning "non member state" status at the UN.

The Palestinians have lodged a formal complaint with the UN stating that the Zionists have acted  "in a rogue, hostile and arrogant manner, contravening all principles and rules of international law and reacting with contempt to the will of the international community."

This comes as no surprise as Israel makes no bones about violating international law. "A clear message must be sent to Israel that all of its illegal policies must be ceased or that it will be held accountable and will have to bear the consequences if its violations and obstruction of peace efforts," the Palestinian communication states.  Unfortunately Israel has become accustomed to not having a need to be accountable to anyone.  It is the most heavily armed state in the region as no other nation has them, with hundreds of nuclear weapons in its arsenal and enjoys the protection of US capitalism. 

As the US threatens war against Iran if it doesn't drop its nuclear program, surrounds the country with bases and has a flotilla of warships in the gulf, and now warns Syria against using chemical weapons or face the threat of military action, it welcomes with open arms the butcher Netenyahu after the Zionists orchestrate a massacre in  Gaza using white phosporous on civilians.  I wonder what the Arab and Muslim workers of the region and the world think about that? It doesn't go unnoticed except by millions of Americans, many of whom have not yet drawn the conclusion that the roots of terrorism are deep in US foreign policy.

The argument that Iran is the destabilizing factor in the Middle east is laughable were it not so tragic.  Three U.S. Nimitz class carrier groups in the "Persian" (yes "Persian") Gulf each  has more aircraft than the entire complement of the Iranian air force. The US regularly spies on the country using unmanned drones and refuses to acknowledge warnings not to do so. Why wouldn't Iran want nuclear weapons?  Look what the US did to the nation next door and they're not stupid, the folks at the Pentagon decided not to invade North Korea. And lets not forget, the US orchestrated the coup that overthrew the secular democratic government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and installed the murderous dictatorship of the Shah. Blame US and British interference ion that country for the rise of the Mullahs.  An Israeli or US attack on Iran will set off a global chain of events that will be hard to quell but it can't be ruled out and certainly the Zionists are crazy enough to do so regardless.

One wonders how much longer events like Black Friday, Christmas sales and the Superbowl will keep Americans from taking a more active role in the affairs of state, made harder by the fact that workers have no political party of our own here and the heads of organized labor stay mum about foreign policy.  The mass media in the US is extremely closed and tightly censored and designed to carve up the year in to sections, baseball, football, basketball, with sales events in between.  There has been a major strike going on here for over a week as dock workers shut down two of the major ports in the country in a state with one of the top 6 economies in the world, but such events are not real newsworthy and might give people ideas. 

Despite this, the recent walkouts at fast food outlets the above mentioned strike and an earlier major action by teachers in Chicago, and the actions at the dreaded Wal Mart, have forced the mass media to take notice. The Occupy movement, while quieted is not yet dead and major cuts from the Obama administration are on the way so it's likely were in for a long hot summer in 2013.

It's hard to say exactly how things will unfold but one thing is certain; there's no solution on the basis of capitalism.

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