RUMI shirts by Arash Norouzi
US Institute of Peace Corrects "Iran Primer" Errors... Sort Of

Arash Norouzi
The Mossadegh Project | November 16, 2010                   


The Iran Primer - US Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace has now corrected some of the errors I pointed out in my October 24th article, US-Funded "Iran Primer" Needs Editing. More can be done.

For one thing, they had an impossibly wrong date for an Ahmadinejad speech in their Iran Timeline (March 27th — months before he even took office — instead of October 26th, 2005). It was subsequently changed... to another wrong date, October 25th. Getting closer, though.

The primer also stated that Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh had been forced to resign in August 1953. My article explained why this was completely false, and evidently, they agree.

BEFORE:
“The CIA and British intelligence orchestrated riots that forced Mossadegh to resign...

AFTER:
“The CIA and British intelligence orchestrated riots that forced Mossadegh from power...

While this is an improvement, editor Robin Wright’s nebulous summary of the events leading up to the coup still opens about as many questions as it answers. Why did the Shah attempt to dismiss Mossadegh? Why did he flee to Rome afterwards? Why would the US and Britain want to overturn a popular and democratic government? Without these crucial elements, the true significance of the event — and motivation of its players — remain imperceptible.

The Iran Primer - US Institute of Peace It’s hard to overstate the impact of the 1953 coup in Iran. Yet Wright’s account, which doesn’t even use the word “coup”, softens the story considerably. Hundreds of Iranians died fighting to preserve their freedom on August 19, 1953, as Mossadegh’s home was literally attacked by army tanks, soldiers and mobs. In Wright’s description, though, the episode sounds benign, almost peaceful. No mention is made of the West’s elaborate, extended campaign to undermine Iran’s democratic government after it nationalized its oil industry, enraging the British empire.

Robin Wright’s interpretation of the Shah’s role in this is also misleading. At no point did the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ever ‘lose’ his throne. He was not forced from his position, he did not abdicate, and Dr. Mossadegh had no part in his decision to run away and hide out in Rome. Yet still we see the tired old phrase that Western powers “restored” the Shah to his throne. This is categorically false, because he never lost his throne.

The US Institute of Peace was founded to prevent and resolve conflict around the world. “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding”, Albert Einstein reminds us in one of the many wise quotations decorating USIP’s web site.

Yet understanding is where The Iran Primer fails to engage. A truly potent resource would not only fill gaps in information, but also in understanding — peace depends on it, regardless of the regime in power. When an embassy is seized and hostages taken, for example, Americans lacking background knowledge or context for what is taking place find it incomprehensible. No understanding, consequently, leads to an escalation of tension and conflict — precisely what the US Institute of Peace intends to prevent.

“For Americans, Iran is one of the most stereotyped and least understood countries in the world”, says Wright. The question is why Iran, a country on Earth inhabited by human beings, should be that perplexing. Have the roles of US foreign policy and media been to make Iran more understood, or less?

As usual, The Iran Primer repeats many familiar clichés. The shootdown of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988, former Reagan official Geoffrey Kemp tells us, was done “accidentally”. No mention is made of the fact that by trespassing in Iranian territorial waters, the USS Vincennes was already in clear violation of international law. Also unmentioned: President Reagan’s rewarding the perpetrators of this “accident” with shiny new medals, automatically negating whatever trace of American inculpability there may have been.

Compare the sensationalized hostage grievance, in which not a single hostage died, with the shooting of Iran Air Flight 655, in which 290 people perished, 66 of them children. Equivalent?

Though created and funded by the U.S. government, the US Institute of Peace identifies itself as “independent” (it will soon inhabit a new $186 million headquarters on the Mall in Washington DC). USIP’s co-chair, former Secretary of State George Shultz, once stood aside as Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein used banned chemical weapons against Iranians and committed genocide against his own people, while enabling the Iran-Iraq War to drag on for 8 years. Over a million lives were wasted. Man of peace?

Advocating peace and understanding, while whitewashing policies and actions which have had terrible consequences for both countries, has never, and will never, lead to a just and lasting peace or resolution.

The Iran Primer - US Institute of Peace

UPDATE: Following this article’s publication, the US Institute of Peace amended the date of the Ahmadinejad speech for the second time, this time correctly.


Causes and Circumstances of Mossadeq’s Downfall | CIA, Oct. 1953
Probable Developments In Iran | Causes and Circumstances of Mossadeq’s Downfall | Oct. 5, 1953

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Related links:

CIA Drafts Official U.S. Statement For After 1953 Coup In Iran (July 1953)

All the Sham’s Men: How the CIA Used ‘Anti-Communism’ to Destroy Iran’s Democracy

Response to Abbas Milani’s Revisionist “Great Satan Myth”



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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