Francis Boyle positions sabre-rattling at Iran squarely inside the catastrophic saga of U.S. imperialism.
The author delivered this speech at the Perdana Global Peace Forum 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on June 22, 2006. That year the U.S. had deployed aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf and tensions then, as now, were high.
Little has changed in the imperialist tendencies of American foreign policy since the founding of the United States of America in 1789. The fledgling United States opened the 19th century by stealing the continent of North America from the Indians, while in the process ethnically cleansing them and then finally deporting the pitiful few survivors by means of death marches (à la Bataan) to Bantustans, which in America we call reservations, as in instance of America’s “Manifest Destiny” to rule the world.
Then, the imperial government of the United States opened the 20th century by stealing a colonial empire from Spain — in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, then inflicting a near-genocidal war against the Filipino people. While at the same time, purporting to annex, the kingdom of Hawaii and subjecting the native Hawaiian people to near-genocidal conditions from which they still suffer today. All in the name of securing America’s so-called place in the sun.
And today at the dawn of the 21st century, the world witnesses the effort by the imperial government of the United States of America to steal a hydrocarbon empire from the Muslim states and peoples, surrounding central Asia and the Persian Gulf under the pretext of fighting a war against international terrorism or eliminating weapons of mass destruction or promoting democracy, which is total nonsense.
The imperialist foreign policy of the United States of America since its foundation, has been predicated upon racism, aggression, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, war crimes and outright genocide. At the dawn of the third millennium of humankind’s parlous existence, nothing has changed about the operational dynamics of American imperial policy. And we see this today in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and what appears to be an illegal attack upon Iran.
Now the assigned topic today is “The Middle East Agenda: Oil, Dollar Hegemony and Islam.” So, I’m only going to limit my comments to that subject. We have to begin the story with the Arab oil embargo in 1973.
As you know in 1967, Israel launched an illegal war of aggression against the surrounding Arab states, stole their land and ethnically cleansed their people. But eventually Egypt offered a peace treaty to Israel, which Israel rejected and the Egyptians and the Arab states decided then to use force to recover their lands. Israel almost collapsed, the United States and Europe came to its support by providing weapons and in reaction the Arab states imposed an oil embargo on the United States and Europe, and brought their economies to their knees.
Whereupon, then U.S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger threatened them and said: “This will never happen again, and if you do, we will prevent it.” And it was not just a threat. The United States government then, at that time, planned, prepared and conspired, to steal the oil of the Persian Gulf. They did not have the military capability to do this at that time, to carry out the Kissinger threat, which was also then repeated by the Ford administration, and the Carter administration under [Secretary of Defense] Harold Brown and [National Security Advisor] Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Arrival of U.S. Central Command
So they put into planning an interventionary force, designed expressly for the purpose of stealing Arab oil fields, and that was called the Rapid Deployment Force. And it took 10 years of training, planning, positioning, and supply to build that interventionary force of that capability and eventually it was called the U.S. Central Command.
The purpose of the U.S. Central Command is to steal and control and dominate the oil and gas resources of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia. And that’s exactly what the U.S. Central Command proceeded to do in the Bush Sr. war against Iraq, their first military expedition.
And as we know, that war exterminated probably 200,000 Iraqis. Half of them innocent civilians. Simply wiped out in a bombing campaign and a military expedition of unprecedented dimensions. But remember, it took 15 years for the Pentagon and three different administrations both Republicans and Democrats to get the capability to do this. And then, when that genocide or conflict was over, what happened?
The United States carved Iraq up into three pieces with their air force, the so-called no-fly zones, a zone for the Kurds in the North, a zone for the Shi’ah in the South, and the Sunni in the middle. Why? To destroy Iraq as an effectively viable state.
In his book, “Clash of Civilizations,” Samuel Huntington from Harvard, who advised the Pentagon and the State Department, pointed out that the only Arab state with the capability to lead the Arab world and challenge the United States and Israel was Iraq. And so, Iraq had to be destroyed, to maintain the domination of the United States and its proxy, Israel. And remember after 1973, whatever it was before then, Israel is nothing more than a catspaw of the United States. They do what America tells them to do! Otherwise Israel is nothing more than a failed state.
In addition then, to destroying Iraq as a state, carving it up into three pieces, was the decision to debilitate and destroy the Iraqi people. And so, they continued the genocidal economic sanctions on the people of Iraq, that my colleagues, Denis Halliday, Hans Von Sponeck, so courageously resisted and finally resigned from the United Nations as a matter of principle, calling them by what they really were: genocide. The United States and Britain maliciously and criminally imposed genocidal sanctions on the people of Iraq, that killed approximately 1.5 million Iraqis, all of whom were innocent civilians.
Albright: 500,000 Dead Children ‘Worth It’
And when U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright (later secretary of state) was asked about the 500,000 dead children, she said that she thought the price was worth it. Now, I could have taken that statement to the International Court of Justice, and filed it against the United States as evidence of genocidal intent against the people of Iraq in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention. And indeed, I offered to do so to the then president of Iraq, but for whatever reasons he decided against doing that.
So, 1.5 million Iraqis died as the result of these genocidal sanctions. And then came Sept. 11. And we know for a fact that the second Bush administration knew that a major terrorist attack was going to be launched on the United States. And they let it happen anyway deliberately and on purpose. Why? They wanted a pretext for war. And not just one war but for a long war which they are talking about today.
Afghanistan Invasion Plotted Since 1997
Indeed, from my research, the war plans drawn up by the Pentagon for the war against Afghanistan were formulated as early as 1997. Enormous military forces fielded by that same U.S. Central Command, were already in and around and surrounding the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean before Sept. 11. This war had been long-planned against Afghanistan. And armed, equipped, supplied, trained and war-gamed and ready to go. They just needed the pretext and that was Sept. 11. Why? The United States wanted access to the oil and natural gas of Central Asia.
That had been a Pentagon objective since at least before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. And the 9/11 attack gave them the pretext to make this major grab for the oil and gas of Central Asia. And they are there today with their bases, with their troops, in the surrounding countries in Central Asia. We don’t even have an estimate of the Muslims in Afghanistan who were killed in the air bombardment: 20,000 or 25,000; maybe more. And tens of thousands of others starved to death and still suffering today.
But that, as we know from all the records was only the first step in the process. They wanted to finish the job in Iraq. And so immediately after Sept. 11, Bush ordered [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld to update and operationalize the plans for attacking and invading Iraq. It had nothing at all to do with weapons of mass destruction. We in the peace movement in America had been saying that all along. The United Nations had determined there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. These were lies designed to scaremonger the American people and Congress into supporting an illegal war of aggression, a Nuremberg crime against peace, against Iraq. And they told whatever lies and broke what international laws they had to break in order to attack Iraq.
And today the estimate, again we don’t know. Perhaps 200,000 people in Iraq had been killed outright by the United States and Britain, their allies in Iraq. And again, most of them civilians.
Clearly if you add up what United States government has done to Iraq from August of 1990, when it imposed the genocidal economic embargo until today, the United States and Britain have inflicted outright genocide on the Muslim and Christian people of Iraq and they are predominately Muslim as we know.
Dominate Oil and Gas of Persian Gulf
Now comes the third step in the Pentagon’s pre-existing plan, to control and dominate the oil and gas resources of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia. It sounds a bit like the plan that Hitler and the Nazis had in the 1930s. Does it not? First go into Austria, then go into Czechoslovakia, then go into Poland. So first Afghanistan, then Iraq, and now Iran. Iran is going to be the next victim of these outright criminals unless you and I can stop them.
Right now [in 2006] there are three aircraft carrier task forces in the Persian Gulf. And whenever they had put three aircraft carrier task forcesover there, it’s always to prepare for an attack. And according to Seymour Hersh, the award winning journalist, it will probably be an aerial bombardment, along the lines of what they did to Yugoslavia in 1999.
As you remember there, 78 days of aerial bombardmentby the United States and NATO with no authorization from the UN Security Council. Clearly illegal. Killing again, we don’t know the exact number outright; four-to-five thousand innocent civilians. And targeting civilian infrastructure, all up and down, from which the people still suffer today. The use of depleted uranium ammunitions, with consequent outbreaks of cancer are documented today.
So this is what, is being planned right now as we speak; an attack upon Iran. Using jet fighter aircraft, fighter bombers, on these three aircraft carrier task forces, using cruise missiles on submarines. Of course, Israel will be involved and have a role to play, doing exactly what the Americans tell them to do. In addition, it appears that if they attack Iran, they will also attack Syria. Yesterday, if you heard President Bush’s press conference in Vienna, he threatened Syria, right? There’s no other word for it. He threatened Syria.
Take Out Syria as Favor to Israel
These neoconservatives want to take out Syria as a favor to Israel. Remember, many of them are affiliated personally and professionally with the Likhud Party in Israel and Ariel Sharon, the Butcher of Beirut, the man who exterminated 20,000 thousand Arabs in Lebanon, most of them were Muslims. And in addition, slaughtered 2,000 completely innocent Palestinian women, children and old men at Sabra and Shatila.
Ariel Sharon, the man who went to Haram Al-Sharif, the third holiest site in Islam, where Muhammad, (Peace Be Upon Him) ascended into heaven, and desecrated the Haram on Sept. 28th, 2000, and deliberately provoked the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and has inflicted death and destruction on the Palestinian people since then. Close to 3700 Palestinians since then alone have been killed….most of them shot down like dogs in the street, and what has the Muslim world done about this?
My Palestinian friends tell me that they are worried that the government of Malaysia might recognize Israel and establish diplomatic relations with Israel. I certainly hope this is not true. We must treat the criminal apartheid regime in Israel, the same way the world treated the criminal apartheid regime in South Africa.
If the United States attacks Iran, it will probably attack Syria with the Israeli air force and they will attack Lebanon to take out the Islamic resistance movement in southern Lebanon; Hezbollah that defended the legitimate rights of Lebanon and the Lebanese people and expelled the invading longstanding occupying Israeli army that had the full support of the United States government for over 20 years.
So they could attack Iran, Syria, Southern Lebanon and inflict yet another round of ethnic cleansing on the suffering Palestinian people. Remember Sharon and Likhud believe that Jordan is Palestine. And they want to drive as many Palestinians as possible out of their homes and into Jordan.
So if the United States as reported by Hersh and other reliable sources, goes ahead and attacks Iran, we could see warfare erupt all the way from Egypt to the border with India. This whole area convulsed in warfare. And who will be the primary victims of this war? Muslims.
Disregard for Muslim Life
The United States could not care less about Muslim life. Look at the demonization and victimization of Muslims that we have seen inflicted by the United States and its surrogate, Israel. Look at Guantanamo, where 600 Muslim men have been treated like dogs in a kennel. Pretty much the way the Nazis treated the Jews. Look at Abu Ghraib and the sadism and sexual exploitation and perversion of Muslims by their American captors. And the same thing has been done in Baghran in Afghanistan.
And when Professor Sharif Bassiouni, the U.N. special rapporteur, filed the report with the Security Council against U.S. practices in Afghanistan, the Americans had Kofi Annan [then UN secretary-general] fire him. Just as they had Kofi Annan fire Mary Robinson, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, when she protested what was going on down in Guantanamo.
The United States could not care less about Muslim life. And the same is true for the genocidal apartheid regime in Israel. They would be happy to use nuclear weapons against Iran. They would be happy to break the taboo of Hiroshima and Nagasaki against Muslims in Iran. It would create no problem at all for them.
Indeed, I went to school with these neoconservatives at the University of Chicago. [Paul] Wolfowitz was there, [Ahmed] Chalabi, [Zalmay] Khalilzad, [Abram] Shulsky, all the rest of them. I went through the exact same program. Their mentor was Professor Leo Strauss. And who was his teacher in Germany and his sponsor? Professor Carl Schmitt, who went on to become the most notorious Nazi law professor of his day, justifying every atrocity that the Nazis inflicted oneveryone.
We must understand that these neoconservatives are in fact neo-Nazis. They have espoused the Nazi doctrine of Schmitt and Strauss and Machiavelli and Nietzsche, the “superman.” They are the supermen, and the Muslims are the scum of the earth.
Tactical Nuclear Weapons
Now, I do not believe the United States will initially start bombing Iran with nuclear weapons. But if things get out of control they are fully prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons. And here in our materials, you have the Pentagon’s Joint Publication 3-12, which you can get on the internet…. just do a Google search and read it. And you will see there, dated March 15, 2005; nuclear, tactical nuclear weaponshave been fully integrated into United States conventional forces.
So if Iran were to defend itself, human wave attacks, whatever, they will be happy to use nuclear weapons, tactical nuclear weapons against Iran. Remember, these neo-Nazis, neocons want to break the taboo of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They want to use tactical nuclear weapons, to be able to say to the rest of the world, you do what we tell you to do or else look what we did to the Iranians!
It’s a very serious situation. And this could even get further out of control. Remember that before Bush invaded Iraq, President Vladimir Putin of Russia said that if he invades Iraq he could set off World War Three. Well, I interpreted that as an implicit threat. Even the famous American news broadcaster Walter Cronkite said that if Bush invaded Iraq he could set off World War Three. Two weeks ago we had the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; China, Russia and Iran. So again, if Bush were to attack Iran, he very well could set off a Third World War, a nuclear war.
Francis Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Among his many books is “Destroying World Order.”
1901-1951: BRITISH CONTROL OF IRANIAN OIL
By the mid-1950s, Iran’s oil assets were owned by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), whose predecessor company bought the concession from William Knox D’Arcy. D’Arcy had negotiated the concession in 1901 with Mozzafar al-Din Shah Qajar, the Shah of Persia, who granted a 60-year petroleum search concession in a transaction in which no money changed hands.
For most of the first half of the twentieth century, Iran’s oil was the British government’s single largest overseas investment. 51 percent of the AIOC was owned by the British government. The British company consistently violated the terms of the agreement that had been updated in 1933, and was reluctant to change the terms of the agreement even as Iran’s movement for nationalization grew in the late 1940s. Although AIOC was highly profitable, its Iranian workers were very poorly paid and had terrible working conditions.
In the post-war Labour government of Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin, the AIOC remained a source of British national pride. Some high British officials still believed that Persian petroleum was actually and rightly British petroleum because it had been discovered, developed, and exploited by the British.
MARCH 1951: IRAN NATIONALIZES ITS OIL INDUSTRY
The National Front had its roots in a peaceful protest against ballot-rigging, led by Mosaddegh in October 1949. The Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, eventually gave in and promised fair and honest elections. The leaders of the protest formed the National Front and elected Mossadegh to be its chairman. The National Front was conceived to be a broad alliance of like-minded associations (rather than individuals, as in a normal political party) with the aim of strengthening democracy, press freedom, and constitutional government.
Soon after its founding, the National Front opposed the existing Western domination and control of Iran’s natural resources, and related revenues. Its goal was to nationalize Iran’s oil resources and to counteract British dominance of Iran’s internal affairs by initiating direct relations with the United States. The National Front became the governing coalition when it took office in April 1951, with Mosaddegh elected Prime Minister.
Mosaddegh believed the 1933 concession granted to the AIOC by Iran was both illegal and immoral. He challenged every aspect of the British commercial presence in the country. The British feared that if Mosaddeq’s policies prevailed, other nationalist governments throughout the world could abrogate British concessions with impunity.
Mosaddegh attempted to negotiate with the AIOC, but the company rejected his proposed compromise. Mosaddegh’s plan, based on the 1948 compromise between the Venezuelan Government of Romulo Gallegos and Creole Petroleum, would divide the profits from oil 50/50 between Iran and Britain. Against the recommendation of the United States, Britain refused this proposal and began planning to undermine and overthrow the Iranian government.
Upon the refusal of the AIOC to co-operate with the Iranian government, Hosseyn Fatemi, Mosaddegh’s minister of foreign affairs, enforced the Oil Nationalization Act, passed by the Iranian Parliament in March 1951. The Act, reluctantly signed by the Shah, called for nationalization of the assets held by AIOC. In Iran this was enormously popular and seen as a long overdue staunching of the bleeding of its national wealth which could now be harnessed to fighting poverty in Iran.
In Britain, Iran’s nationalisation of the AIOC was widely seen as an intolerable breach of contract or theft. British emissaries in the United States after the nationalisation, argued that allowing Iran to nationalize the oil company would be viewed as a victory for the Russians and would result in an estimated loss of one hundred million pounds per annum in the United Kingdom’s balance of payments, seriously affecting the UK’s rearmament program and cost of living.
In July 1951, American diplomat Averell Harriman went to Iran to negotiate an Anglo-Iranian compromise, asking the Shah’s help; his reply was that “in the face of public opinion, there was no way he could say a word against nationalisation”. Harriman held a press conference in Tehran, calling for reason and enthusiasm in confronting the “nationalisation crisis”. As soon as he spoke, a journalist rose and shouted: “We and the Iranian people all support Premier Mosaddegh and oil nationalisation!” Everyone present began cheering and then marched out of the room; the abandoned Harriman shook his head in dismay.
1951-1953: BRITISH EMBARGO OF IRANIAN OIL
On 22 August 1951, the British cabinet imposed a series of economic sanctions on Iran. It prohibited exports of key British commodities, including sugar and steel, directed the withdrawal of all British personnel from Iranian oil fields and all but a hard core of about 300 administrators from Abadan and blocked Iran’s access to its hard currency accounts in British banks. However, even with the British blockade, royalties to the Iranian government were significantly higher than before nationalization.
After the withdrawal of the British workers in the fall of 1951, the Iranians felt confident that they could hire non-British technicians to run the industry and then quickly train their own nationals to replace them. Unfortunately, this did not prove to be the case; the United States, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and West Germany all refused to make their technicians available to the nationalized Iranian industry. Only Italy agreed.
By September 1951, the British had virtually ceased Iran’s oil production, forbidden British export to Iran of key British commodities (including sugar and steel), and had frozen Iran’s hard currency accounts in British banks. British Prime Minister Clement Attlee considered seizing the Abadan Oil Refinery by force, but instead settled on an embargo by the Royal Navy, stopping any ship transporting Iranian oil for carrying so-called “stolen property”.
Mosaddegh sought American support to settle the crisis and visited the United States in October 1951. In spite of the popularity of nationalization in Iran, Mosaddegh agreed in talks with Assistant Secretary of State George C. McGhee to a complex settlement involving the sale of the Abadan Refinery to a non-British company and Iranian control of the extraction of crude oil.
However, Mosaddegh’s appeal to the Americans was to no avail. The Truman administration waited until Winston Churchill was re-elected as British prime minister to present the deal, believing he would be more flexible. However, Churchill rejected the deal and took an even harder stance against Iran.
By mid-1952, Britain’s embargo of Iranian oil was devastatingly effective. British agents in Tehran worked to subvert the government and Mosaddegh’s political coalition was fraying. To make matters worse, Mosaddegh’s political coalition was fraying. Speaker of the Parliament Ayatollah Kashani, Mosaddegh’s main clerical supporter, became increasingly opposed to the Prime Minister, because Mosaddegh was not turning Iran into an Islamic state.
However, in the Iranian Parliamentary election in the spring of 1952, Mosaddegh had little to fear. Despite the country’s problems, he was widely admired as a hero. A free vote, however, was not what others were planning. British agents had fanned out across the country, bribing candidates, and the regional bosses who controlled them. They hoped to fill the Parliament with deputies who would vote to depose Mosaddegh. It would be a coup carried out by seemingly legal means.
While the National Front, which often supported Mosaddegh won handily in the big cities, there was no one to monitor voting in the rural areas. Violence broke out in Abadan and other parts of the country where elections were hotly contested. Mossadegh was faced with having to leave Iran for the International Court of Justice at The Hague, where Britain was suing for control of Iranian oil. His cabinet voted to postpone the remainder of the election until after the return of the Iranian delegation from The Hague.
Addressing the international court at The Hague. Mosaddegh said the world would learn of a “cruel and imperialistic country” stealing from a “needy and naked people”. The court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over the case. Nevertheless, the British continued to enforce the embargo of Iranian oil.
In the first year of the nationalization, the only foreign sale of Iranian oil were 300 barrels to an Italian merchant ship. Foreign oil companies prevented any impacts of the Iranian withdrawal from being felt by consumer countries by increasing output elsewhere. Oil production was expanded by BP and ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. Oil production in the Middle East increased by around 10% annually in 1951, 1952 and 1953. The loss of oil exports severely impacted the Iranian economy. With oil production decreasing from 242 million barrels in 1950 to 10.6 million barrels in 1952.
In July 1952, the Royal Navy intercepted the Italian tanker Rose Mary and forced it into the British protectorate of Aden on the grounds that the ship’s petroleum was stolen property. News that the Royal Navy was intercepting tankers carrying Iranian oil scared off other tankers and effectively shut down oil exports from Iran.
In August 1952, Mosaddegh invited an American oil executive to visit Iran and the Truman administration welcomed the invitation. However, the suggestion upset Churchill who insisted that the U.S. not undermine his campaign to isolate Mosaddegh.
By 1953, Ayatollah Kashani had completely turned on Mosaddegh. Kashani supported the coup, depriving Mosaddegh of religious support, while giving it to the Shah. Supporters of the nationalization, including the National Poet of Iran Adib Boroumand, supported Mossadegh’s movement. Poems were read out on radio broadcasts, passed out to people on paper pamphlets, and published in newspapers.
AUGUST 1953: CIA AND MI6 INSTIGATE COUP D’ETAT
A previously excised section of an internal CIA history titled “The Battle for Iran“ released in 2013, reads: “The military coup that overthrew Mosaddeq and his National Front cabinet was carried out under CIA direction as an act of U.S. foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government.”
Reversing earlier U.S. policy, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the CIA to instigate a coup d’état in Tehran. Documents published on the CIA’s archival website under freedom of information protocols, describe in detail how the United States – with British help – engineered the coup, codenamed TPAJAX by the CIA and Operation Boot by Britain’s MI6.
The first attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iran on 15 August 1953 failed. Fatemi was arrested by a Royalist group of officers and soldiers, but was eventually released. Fearful of the apparent failure of the coup, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi immediately fled to Baghdad.
In the morning after the first coup attempt, while Mosaddegh still remained a strong proponent of constitutional monarchy, Fatemi advised Mosaddegh to declare a republic in light of the failed coup attempt. In the evening of that same day, Fatemi, in a fiery editorial and a public speech, denounced the Shah as “capricious and bloodthirsty”, a “servant of the British”, and a “thief of Baghdad”.
The second coup d’état effort on 19 August 1953 restored the Shah to power. According to declassified CIA documents and records, some of the most feared mobsters in Tehran were hired by the CIA to stage pro-Shah riots. The offices of Fatemi’s newspaper were attacked and burnt down by mobs incited by an Iranian CIA agent. Other CIA-paid men were brought into Tehran in buses and trucks, and took over the streets of the city. Between 200 and 300 people were killed because of the conflict.
Mosaddegh was arrested and Fatemi went underground. Taking shelter in a safe house, On 21 December 1953, Mosaddegh was sentenced to three years’ solitary confinement in a military prison. On hearing of his sentence, Mosaddegh said: “I am extremely grateful you convicted me. Truly tonight the Iranian nation understood the meaning of constitutionalism.” He remained under house arrest at his residence in Ahmadabad until his death in March 1967 at the age of 84.
Fatemi was discovered and arrested in March 1954. Tortured and convicted by a military court in October for “treason against the Shah”, Fatemi was executed by firing squad in November 1954.
In August 1954, the AIOC was set under the control of an international consortium. Initially, ownership shares in the consortium proposed to be divided along the following lines: 40% to be divided equally among the five major American companies; British Petroleum to have a 40% share; Royal Dutch/Shell to have 14%; and CFP, a French Company, to receive 6%. Iran now received 25% of the profits compared to 20% of the original treaty with the AIOC. (By contrast, Saudi-Arabia and other oil-exploiting countries of the region received up to 50% of the profits in cooperation with American oil companies at the same time.)
Mosaddegh’s overthrow consolidated the rule of the Shah for the next 26 years, making sure the Iranian monarchy would safeguard the West’s oil interests in the country. It was only in 1980, after the US and British backed Shah regime was ousted through a people’s uprising in 1979, that Iran’s oil industry was nationalized into what is today known as the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
Thank you.
This was written in 2006. The world has changed. China’s dollar economy is half that of the US, but measured in actual goods and services, China surpassed the US in 2014 (everything is much cheaper in China), and Iran is part of the new Silk Road.
The USSR collapsed in ’89, and the CIA manipulated Yeltsin to destroy the Russian military, industry, educational system and, when Russia was given to Puin in ’99, he had nothing and let the US take Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, which the USSR would never have allowed. In 2013, Syria was saved by a) Cameron calling for a vote; and then b) the UK Parliament who voted it was wrong to attack Syria. But Russia was rebuilding, in spite of the New York Times assuring us that Putin’s military is all Photoshop (remember when the West said Hitler’s army was just one company going around the block over and over? I’m not comparing Putin to Hitler, this is about how the West always deceives itself). In 2015, Putin said, if the US tried to take Russia’s bases in Syria, it would mean war. The US newspapers all said he was bluffing: when President Clinton ordered him to step down and allow her candidate to be president of Russia, he would have no choice but to meekly comply. Fortunately, a few voters gave the College to Trump, who had promised to bring all the boys and girls home. He lied, but he hasn’t started any new shooting wars. Yet. He has only continued and expanded all the shooting wars he inherited from Obama. He has started huge new trade wars. The US prohibits any nation from trading with Iran, the DPRK, and Venezuela, and has almost total compliance, leaving Iran on the brink of complete collapse. They hope they can hold out until 2021, when they’ve been assured by all the ‘experts’ that someone more like Obama is sure to take over, an assurance that might or might not happen.
We can all hope Trump will stick to trade wars, but, as with his re-election, no one has a clue what’s going to happen.
Larry/,
Biblical myths are biblical myths. To take them seriously ….well, therein lies madness.
True madness.
Excellent lecture and article. This threat of WW 111 has been rebooted to the current Trump Administration. This Kissinger plan of capturing the oil and gas of the Middle East and Central Asia is being updated by the hour.
We live in the most dangerous of times.
Why doesn’t this moronic Nation called America ever learn from its idiotic Regime change failures, its defies belief on how dumb a Country can be? American Imperial “Exceptionalism”, should be defined in a Dictionary as American Stupidism? A foolish Nation that has Morons such as Trump in charge & is the dumbest on Earth with consistently making the same, stupid repetitive mistakes & foolish actions, that never achieve the desired result? This is surely the definition of insanity as Einstein stated, endlessly repeating the same stupid foolish things, over & over again & hoping for s different result? Sounds stupid right, but just like Forest Gump says “Stupid is what stupid does & nobody does stupid better than the good ole US of A!
You mention Muslims, but the situation of Christians is just as bad. Thanks to the attacks on Iraq and the attempts to overthrow the Syrian government, which has protected Christians, the religious “cleansing” of Christians in Iraq and Syria has reached epic proportions, and it is not generally known that many of them took refuge in Iran. While the Iranian theocracy has been brutal on Islamic converts to Christianity, they have supported freedom of Christians and Jews to practice their religions. Iran has 25 synagogues and over 600 churches, all operating, and the Iranian government supports a Jewish charity hospital. Christianity is growing faster in Iran than in any other country in the world. Saudi Arabia, in contrast has no operating churches or synagogues. Yet the US, professing to support Christianity, befriends (9/11) Saudi Arabia while demonizing Iran, and conducts policies guaranteed to destroy the last havens for Christianity in the middle east.
Thank you for highlighting this. This excellent article failed to touch on those absolutely pertinent points which you’ve discussed in your comment. It warrants an edit of the entire article, so fundamental is the issue, missing entirely from the piece.
Correct. Try explaining this to an American Fox news watcher.
“They have espoused the Nazi doctrine of Schmitt and Strauss and Machiavelli and Nietzsche, the “superman.” They are the supermen, and the Muslims are the scum of the earth.”
Nietzsche was not a Nazi sympathizer. He was long dead. His sister was. The ubermensch was not a means to more nihilism, but its goal. After making many good, geopolitical arguments, it makes no sense to invoke erroneous historical precedents. Try not to fall for cultural fallacies.
Evil never sleeps
“remember after 1973, whatever it was before then, Israel is nothing more than a catspaw of the United States. They do what America tells them to do! Otherwise Israel is nothing more than a failed state.”
Francis Boyle’s sentiment from 2006 that “Israel is nothing more than a catspaw of the United States” is false on its face.
Such sentiments completely ignore the reality of pro-Israel Lobby influence in American politics, and the degree of Israeli interference in US foreign policy.
As the Congressional Research Service reported last year:
“Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. To date, the United States has provided Israel $134.7 billion (current, or noninflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance, although in the past Israel also received significant economic assistance.
“At a signing ceremony at the State Department on September 14, 2016, representatives of the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledges to provide $38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel. This MOU replaces a previous $30 billion 10-year agreement, which runs through FY2018 […]
“For FY2019, the Trump Administration is requesting $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing for Israel and $500 million in missile defense aid to mark the first year of the new MOU. The Administration also is seeking $5.5 million in Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) funding for humanitarian migrants [sic] to Israel.”
These figures do not include the enormous economic and human cost of successive US military actions (the brutal American “paw” and its predictably catastrophic aftermaths) against nations that Israel has deemed its adversaries, including Iraq, Libya, and Syria.
Iran is next on the target list.
In short, without ongoing massive direct and indirect US aid procured through the machinations of the pro-Israel Lobby, Israel indeed is nothing more than a failed state. Boyle was correct on that point at least.
Saudi Arabia (Israel’s new BFF) now colludes with the pro-Israel Lobby and enthusiastically participates in US-Israeli Axis military adventures, most notably in Syria where Saudi-backed mercenary forces have devastated large areas of the country.
In April 2015, Robert Parry reported that the Saudis used a third-country Arab state to funnel at least $16 billion into an Israeli “development” account. “Saudi actions have drawn minimal criticism from mainstream U.S. media and political circles, in part, because the Saudis now have the protection of the Israel Lobby” noted Parry.
Yes, Mr. Boyle was in this speech trying to cover up the Israeli influence that brought the neocons to Iraq War II.
He claims the US purpose in the Mideast was to “dominate the oil and gas resources of the Persian Gulf” but admits that his own neocon UChicago classmates including Chalabi(!) and DefSec Wolfowitz(!), who placed three Israeli operatives Wurmser, Feith, and Perle (who had long worked together to persuade Netanyahu to fool the US into fighting wars on behalf of Israel) in the offices at DIA, CIA, and NSA that “stove-piped” to the White House the known-bad WMD info from his other admitted classmate Chalabi to rationalize Iraq War II (see Bamford’s Pretext for War). Boyle knew that before this 2006 speech, but neglects to mention it.
I’m quite sure that Iran et al would have been happy to continue selling oil to the US without being bombed, despite the US having overthrown their democracy in 1953 on behalf of Israel, and subjecting them to 26 years of dictatorship under the Shah, ending with the Iran revolution and takeover of the US embassy there in 1979.
The ziocons have been using the “it’s the oil” excuse for US proxy wars for Israel from the beginning.
I have never found it necessary to bomb the local gas station to ensure the stability of the supply.
The US got very little Iraq oil after Iraq War II.
Sam F.,
You say, “…the US having overthrown their (Iran’s) democracy in 1953 on behalf of Israel,…” No the US overthrew Mossedegh, a democratically elected, progressive, president not for Israel but rather for Great Britain who claimed Persian oil as their own, later naming it British Petroleum, asking first Truman to help. When Truman refused, they asked Eisenhower who agreed, thus the installation of the Shah. The wonderful Mossedegh had decided to use Iran’s oil for the Iranians and, of course, the unethical Brits weren’t having that. God forbid any country wanting to use resources for the good of their citizens. The US went along and ruined a good country. Ever since the Iranians decided to reclaim their country (don’t know why they took so long), the US, enraged, stills hold a grudge and has looked for ways to “take back” a country that was never theirs. You still hear people talk about Iran holding hostages, as if those “hostages” had a right to be there. Israel is on board for war, as is Saudi Arabia, because they are stupid since Iran holds no threat to Israel whatsoever.
That is indeed a standard explanation of the US overthrow of democracy in Iran in 1953, and it may have been sufficient that the BP predecessor and US oil companies wanted it that way. But increasingly I suspect that it would not have happened but for Israel. Perhaps the zionists were seen as a foothold, or a wedge to divide Muslims.
Of course one could argue that Israel would not have happened but for oil. Palestine was the poorest of the possible choices as a refuge for Jews, as the zionist extremists had already made enemies there by the 1930s. It seems likely that at least the BP predecessor agreed with the zionists by the 1950s that they would advance together.
Abe, Sam F, and Rob Roy-
I think it is a mistake to think of the USA, the UK, Israel, and Saudi Arabia as separate entities. In fact, I believe it has become all one Empire, and the division of Nations is just an illusionary cloak. Of course, us “common folk” don’t want to think of it that way, but all evidence suggests they act in tandem, and with no regard for their citizens. It is Globalized Capitalism run amok; and the MIC, the MSM and the Five Eyes “Intelligence” Agencies are mere servants of Empire. There is no real individual “National” allegiance, except for show.
They want the whole pie, and they will blow up the world rather than share. Anyone who has a vision of peaceful coexistence in a multi-polar world that respects national sovereignty is an enemy to be dealt with accordingly. Their major stumbling block is the Russia/China alliance. They almost took Russia under Yeltsin, but Putin thwarted them. And of course, China refuses vassal status as well.
The Israeli lobby is truly the most powerful political group in the world right now. I find it hard to believe they didn’t play a strong hand in getting Trump elected.
Being the most powerful political group, they play all sides. Hillary’s top ten donors were all Zionists. They control the game by controlling all the players.
“But if things get out of control they are fully prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons.”
This is a terrifying prospect. As sure as I’m sitting here typing this, there’s absolutely no way Russia would allow Washington to detonate a nuke anywhere near its southern underbelly. This means Moscow’s nuclear missile arsenal is obviously acting as a deterrent of sorts to the benefit of the Persian state.
Though with psycho Bolton in charge anything is possible. And with this administration you really have to step back every few days to analyze things from a fresh perspective b/c Trump’s akin to a street hustling p imp in that he loves to gaslight the public and mass media. So you’re never quite sure where he sits on things; he could be using his Bulldog Bolton to set things up for a possible negotiation with Tehran at some future date. Sort of the bad cop good cop routine.
Thank you for posting this piece.
Fee Fi Fo Fum….The flow of blood and money has just begun…..again!
Tactical nuclear weapons will be used by Israel…..
If you think President Trump is going to Attack Iran because of there threats to USA forces and allies you have not read the fine print,
Lets go back to 1991 attack on Iraq President George senior was actually meant to attack Iran for Israel to occupy but stuff up by invading Iraq.
2001 attack on world trade centres was organised by Israel/ Saudi Mossad operatives funding, planning giving this to Bin Laden terrorists group for back route to Iran,
in 2003 President George Bush Jr stopped short of attacking Iran he became aware of Israel bolt con.
in 2005 Donald Trump, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and Israel current Prime minister draw up plan worth $3 trillion dollars to there hotel, resorts and apartment real estate empire by 2014 Israel and Saudi mossad start fake news against Iran Triggering by Donald Trumps bid for the White house why so he can divert military resources to Israel to cover up President Trump ripping off America tax payers to pay for his share of the real estate empire they use Russia spy agency as a front to hack and interfere in America election and to ensure white supremacist support world wide organisation that will fall after Iran is occupied,
2019 Plan and fake attacks in place in order to draw in allies to fight middle east war with Iran for Trump while Israel sits on the fence post inciting further unrest in West bank, Gaza and Golan height while targeting battle torn Syria.
Saudi Arabia will now use Yemen crises, Oil tankers in Persian/ Arab sea to further up the situation to ensure Iran is attack.
This also involve instilling moles to ensure unrest in Europe, UK so people will be all for war.
Greater Israel (google an image)
Genesis 15:18
“In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”
The modern, secular, socialist state called Israel is not the Kingdom of Israel that was conquered in 722 BC.
The Covenant God made with the Hebrew nation was conditional. Deuteronomy 28