Loud Thinking August 30, 2013 at 11:43AM
Can we connect this story with Shaheed Z A Bhutto, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan and Mian Nawaz Sharif in their roles of Pakistan’s nuclearisation?
If I sit silently, I have sinned – Something similar is happening here too…
In 1951, with the unanimous support of the Iranian parliament, Prime Minister Mossadegh nationalized AIOC, now known as BP (British Petroleum). The nationalization created an international dispute, causing the British to sanction Iran economically and even threaten with war. Mossadegh travelled to the United Nations and made a plea to the Security Council for what he thought constitutionally belonged the Iranian people. This led to him gracing the cover of Time Magazine as ‘Man of the Year’.
The British sought a way to get back what they deemed was rightfully theirs. Realizing they could not do it alone, the UK’s MI6 intelligence agency conjured up a plan that would convince the Americans to get on board with his overthrow by labeling Mossadegh as a communist. This worked well as the ‘Red Scare’ was a dominating factor in US foreign policy at the time. Under the name Operation Ajax, the CIA with the help of MI6 carried out its first coup d’état. In December 1953, Mossadegh was tried in court and convicted of treason.
In his defense, he said: “Yes, my sin –my greater sin… and even my greatest sin is that I nationalized Iran’s oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world’s greatest empire… This at the cost to myself, my family; and at the risk of losing my life, my honor and my property… With God’s blessing and the will of the people, I fought this savage and dreadful system of international espionage and colonialism… I am well aware that my fate must serve as an example in the future throughout the Middle East in breaking the chains of slavery and servitude to colonial interests.”
The moral of the story……….. never mess with the West when it comes to oil
This is a cross post from the Pakpotpourri of Ms Yasmin Ali Sahiba.
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