US foreign policy has improved over time due to better understanding of the rest of the world, but has a long way to go. The intricacies of the 1953 coup against Mossadeq may be better know by you than me, but I base my understanding on declassified documents on the George Washington National Securities archive. Though incomplete, the documents state that the US got involved in this for three reasons - Mossadeq was not willing to equitably settle on oil issues, Mossadeq was destabilizing Iran and the Shah, and he was dealing with an Iranian communist party (Tudeh) and there was a fear that Iran would ally with the Soviets. My understanding is that the Shah was persuaded, or believed, that getting rid of Mossadeq was a good thing.
gwu.edu
My impression is that you are too young to remember the Cold War first hand.
The failure of the Hungarian Uprising and the construction of the Berlin Wall were two of the formative experiences of my youth.
To some, Communism under the Soviets a better alternative than the West, so everything the West did to hinder the Soviets is cause for weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
I've read plenty of arguments that Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Castro, were all lovers of freedom and democracy, but the truth is that they were totalitarian murderers. So when I read arguments that Mossadeq was a lover of freedom and democracy, I feel suspicious. |
