http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/17/AR2010081704944.html?wpisrc=nl_pmopinions
Clerics responsible for Iran's failed attempts at democracy
By Ray Takeyh
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Thursday marks the anniversary of one of the most mythologized events in
history, the 1953 coup in Iran that ousted Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadeq.
CIA complicity in that event has long provoked apologies from American
politicians and denunciations from the theocratic regime. The problem with the
prevailing narrative? The CIA's role in Mossadeq's demise was largely
inconsequential. The institution most responsible for aborting Iran's
democratic interlude was the clerical estate, and the Islamic Republic should
not be able to whitewash the clerics' culpability.
The dramatic tale of malevolent Americans plotting a coup against Mossadeq, the
famed Operation Ajax, has been breathlessly told so much that it has become a
verity. To be fair, the cast of characters is bewildering: Kermit Roosevelt,
the scion of America's foremost political family, paying thugs to agitate
against the hapless Mossadeq; American operatives shoring up an indecisive
monarch to return from exile and reclaim his throne; Communist firebrands and
nationalist agitators participating in demonstrations financed by the United
States. As Iran veered from crisis to crisis, the story goes, Roosevelt pressed
a reluctant officer corps to end Mossadeq's brief but momentous democratic
tenure.
Yet this fable conceals much about the actual course of events. In 1953 Iran
was in the midst of an economic crisis. An oil embargo had been imposed after
Tehran nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., and by that summer, the
situation had fractured Mossadeq's ruling coalition. Middle-class Iranians
concerned about their finances gradually began to abandon Mossadeq. The
merchant class was similarly anguished about the financial consequences of
Mossadeq's stubborn unwillingness to resolve the stalemate with the British.
The intelligentsia and the professional classes were wary of the prime
minister's increasingly autocratic tendencies. Rumors of military coups began
circulating as members of the armed forces grew vocal in their frustrations
with the prime minister and began participating in political intrigues.
Not just the stars but an array of Iranian society was aligning against
Mossadeq.
Now, the CIA was indeed actively seeking to topple Mossadeq. It had made
contact that spring with the perennially indecisive shah and Iranian officers,
including Gen. Fazollah Zahedi, an opportunistic officer who sought the
premiership himself. Roosevelt had laid out a plan in which the shah would
issue a monarchical decree dismissing Mossadeq; it was to be served to him on
Aug. 15. But the commander who was to deliver the message was arrested, and the
plot quickly unraveled.
This is where the story takes a twist. As word of the attempted coup spread,
the shah fled Iran and Zahedi went into hiding. Amazingly, U.S. records
declassified over the past decade indicate, the United States had no backup
plan. Washington was largely prepared to concede. State Department and CIA
cables acknowledge the collapse of their subversive efforts.
But while crestfallen Americans may have been prepared to forfeit their
mission, the Iranian armed forces and the clergy went on to unseat Mossadeq.
The senior clerics' reaction to the developing nationalist crisis was always
one of suspicion and concern. The clergy had always been averse to the
modernizing penchants of secular politicians such as Mossadeq and their quests
for republican rule and liberalization. The mullahs much preferred the
deference of the conservative, if vacillating, shah to the secular enterprise
of Mossadeq. After the attempted coup, the esteemed men of religion in Qom gave
their tacit endorsement to the speaker of Parliament, Ayatollah Kashani.
Through their connections with the bazaar and their ability to galvanize the
populace, they were instrumental in orchestrating the demonstrations that
engulfed Tehran. Mossadeq was already isolated. As the street protests tilted
toward the shah, the military stepped in and displaced Mossadeq. A few days
after the failure of the CIA's putsch, the shah returned to Iran amid national
celebration.
Through all of this, Roosevelt and his conspirators were more surprised
observers then active instigators. Roosevelt's most significant contribution to
Iranian history was to publish an embellished account of his misadventures more
than two decades after the coup. This flawed account went on to define the
debate and capture the popular imagination -- even though, in reality,
Washington was caught flat-footed about how to respond to events in Tehran.
President Dwight Eisenhower conceded to his diary after hearing Roosevelt's
account, "I listened to his detailed report and it seemed more like a dime
novel than historical fact."
American politicians have a penchant for acknowledging guilt and apologizing
for past misdeeds. But responsibility for the suffocation of the Iranian
peoples' democratic aspirations in the summer of 1953 lies primarily with those
who went on to squash another democratic movement in the summer of 2009 -- the
mullahs. It is they who should apologize to the Iranian people.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
