Iran

Though it is ignored by many who dominate this country, most of the world, including many of the people in the United States have not forgotten the history of U.S.- Iranian relations.

Iran was dominated by the British Petroleum Company from roughly 1902- 1950. As the British Empire was collapsing the Iranians achieved a brief period of freedom. Their leader Mohammad Mossadegh nationalized their oil and tried to put some of the profits back into the country. This outraged BP, then essentially a branch of the British government largely dedicated to servicing the military. The British tried to overthrow Mossadegh but failed.

So in 1952 our own Central Intelligence Agency staged a coup and succeeded. The U.S.A. based oil companies, known as the seven sisters, received a portion of the profits from the Iranian Oil. Iran received one of history’s most brutal dictators, the Shah. The Shah not only robbed and brutalized the people of his country, he exterminated all political opposition. When the Shah was overthrown, the only group that was relatively intact was the Ayatollah Khomeini’s religious opposition.

In effect the United States created the enemy it now rails against. This is entirely consistent with the fact that the United States also propped up Bin Laden and Al Qaeda through massive infusions of cash and weaponry. It is also consistent with the fact that our government propped up Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and used Iraq as a proxy to wage a bloody and violent war on Iran through the 1980s. That war resulted in the deaths of over one million Iraqis, that is roughly twice the deaths United States military has suffered in World War Two and Vietnam combined.

We may not hear this history as often as we need to, but many, many people in the rest of the world have lived it, and they do not forget it.

We need talks. And we need these talks to begin with an official apology. It is long overdue.

Paid for by Paul Richmond for Congress