deva wrote:
Iran had a progressive movement happening which the US did not like (we do not actually like democracy because people will then make decisions on their own behalf and we cannot dominate them so easily) so we pushed the Shah into power. It took the people there a long time to overthrow the Shah and in doing so, they ended up with a more fundamentalist government. We don't like that so we promote Saddam. The cycle continues.
Read: Mohammed Mosadegh (sp?) Irans 1st democratically elected prime minister, swept into power in 1951 after running on a platform of nationalizing Iranian natural resources (ie. oil) and returning them to the people of Iran. This naturally made the british nervous as they (and the upper echelon of Iranian society), not the people of Iran, were the primary beneficiaries of Iranian natural resources.
The British, being a specter of their former colonial selves, were unable to take on regime change on their own so they enlisted the help of us, the Americans. The American powers that be (eisenhower and party?) were initially uninterested in the endeavor, but once Mossadegh was wrapped in the boogey man cloak of the day (then communism) they willingly rose to the occasion.
Needless to say the British got their oil back. The Anglo American Oil company (now BP) lived on, and we beat the commies and installed a "democracy".
Mossadegh was overthrown by a joint US/British backed coup in 1953 (operation AJAX) and the Shah was installed in his place. To ensure no further pipe dreams of social empowerment would be entertained by the people, the Shah, through the use of his secret police, the Savak (many of whom were trained in the United States) did things to "gently" discourage social reform. Surveillance of dissidents abroad was supported by CIA, MI5 and MI6.
So for example an outspoken Iranian student studying abroad in London would be met by the Savak upon his return to Iran. The Savak, having information about the young dissident supplied by their western counter parts, would than show the young man to a prison where he would be chained to a metal box spring situated over gas burners and slowly roasted alive, until he gave up names, or died.
Gang rape of women, often times in front of their husbands, being dissolved alive in acid, severing of limbs with instruments such as a common meat slicer, and being beaten or electrocuted to death were all techniques employed by the Shah, with the backing and tacit knowledge of the western powers, ie. the USA and the UK.
I don't exaggerate. All of this information is readily available from a multitude of sources ranging from declassified US government reports to human rights groups reports.
The Shah ruled in this manner up until 1973, at which point he was overthrown by a popular (read: the people were behind this) Islamic revolution, after which Iran became public enemy in the eyes of the west.
This is but one example of our vision of democracy abroad. It isn't just limited to republicans. And the worlds hate of us isn't just limited to Bush.
