Need a little help with history

[serryjw]

WHY were our hostages taken in 1979? What was our relationship with Iran before the kidnappings?

[baldguy]

1. Mossadeq wanted to nationalize Iran's oil.

His democratic govt was overthrown in a CIA coup & the Shah was installed in power. The Shah's secret police, the Savaak, were also trained by the CIA. In short, Iran was a brutal repressive dictatorship before the revolution, and the US backed & supported it.

[serryjw]

5. OK....so far

It was our support of the Shah that created the problem? US meddling in other governments again? Who was worse the Shah or Khomeini ?

[question everything]

6. You need to include the date. I think this was in the early 50s

so we are talking more than 25 years.

[serryjw]

8. I'm confused

I think this was in the early 50s,so we are talking more than 25 years. That was in 1980??

[question everything]

13. The CIA coup was in 1953, the hostage taken in 1979

This was the 25 years span that I was talking about

From Wikipedia

In 1953 America would again meddle in the middle east with Operation Ajax which would help precipitate the Iran hostage crisis that lasted from November 4, 1979 until January 20, 1981.

======

And you can read more in posts below

[serryjw]

17. Maybe not the CIA

but certainly the US government..found a good article. Do you disagree with anything stated?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/01/18/iran/main265244.shtml

[question everything]

22. That pretty much covers the events of 1979 and the hostages

taken.

But it does not explain as many claim, that the distrust of the U.S. went back to 1953, when the democratically elected Mossadegh was forced to resign after western-inspired riots.

[Democrats_win]

2. Shah had been thrown out of Iran. Carter allowed him to enter U.S.

for medical treatment at the request of one of the Rockefellers. The Iranians saw this as a possible coup to re-install the Shah. Rumors drove the crowds in front of the U.S. embassy and it snowballed into the takeover of the embassy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis

[Demeter]

3. The Shah of Iran

The shah got sick and came to the US for medical care, the fundies in Iran took over and chaos surrounded the embassy. I think Reagan or Bush Sr paid the fundies to hold the embassy staff, so Carter would be defeated.

[Rene]

23. geo bush I was the personal emissary who went to Paris to

negotiate holding the hostages long enough to ruin carter's chance for reelection. they were released the day reagan was sworn in. bush should have been investigated for his role.

[NoPasaran]

4. The Shah had been overthrown in February

The event that seems to have led to the seizure of the embassy and the taking of the hostages was the ex-shah being allowed to come to the US for medical treatment.

While the hostage crisis of course had a great impact on US politics, it should not be forgotten that it was also a part of the internal politics of the Iranian Revolution as the religiously-opiented elements struggled against and defeated other, competing political tendencies that had also formed part of the opposition to the Shah.

[omega minimo]

7. It was retaliation for Disco

They hate us for our Fritos

[azurnoir]

10. If it was Disco

I could almost agree with them.

[Skink]

14. ROFL!!!!! ! BTW What does ROFL stand for?

[azurnoir]

9. The shah's son

and heir (apparently) is living in the US and supposedly close with the Cheney admin.

[MethuenProgressive]

11. "The October Surprise"

No conversation about the hostages in Iran would be complete without mention of the circumstances of their release.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

16. Also, something else to note. H. Ross Perot, the then owner of

EDS, Electronic Data Systems had a contract with the Iranian Gov't to build an automated IIRC Medicare system 2 years before the Embassy hostage crisis. Iran was heating up and they were going after American businesses. The contract for the Medicare system was 11 million and they imprisoned several high ranking EDS corporate figures stating that they were accepting bribes, they were basically trying to ransom them for 11 million.

What is important here is that Perot called Kissinger for help and Kissinger said that there was nothing that he could do. Perot (who was always trying to locate Nam MIA's, don't leave them behind kind of guy), used his money and influence to penetrate Iran and get his people out.

He warned the US gov't 2 years before the Embassy crisis and the government did nothing but leave our people in Iran.

I know this because my first job out of college was for EDS and my aunt and uncle gave me their copy of "On Wings of Eagles", which is about the EDS/Iranian story, by Ken Folliet, to read on my flight to my interview.

I was hired and my boss was stuck in Iran and had quite a story to tell!

Edit to add:

Just an aside, the Shahs son attended Drexel University, as did I. The Secret Service was sent to campus to protect him fearing reprisals for the Embassy takeover.

[shain from kane]

12. Insistence of David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger, among others, that

the Shah be allowed to enter the USA for cancer treatment.

Thank you, Mr. Genius Henry Kissinger, the Condi Rice of the '60's and '70's. Did he ever do anything that had any positive ramifications?


http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_01-03/dauherty_shah/dauherty_shah.html

[question everything]

15. Why not?

If this country wants to let a sick man enter the country for medical treatment - and he did die a short time after - someone who was an ally of the US for many years, who is Iran, or other countries, to tell us whom we should or should not invite?

Clearly this was the beginning of extremist of Islam, who thought that they had a right to tell other countries how to conduct their business.

[theanarch]

20. yes, he made Allen Dulles look like a liberal...n/t

[Joe Bacon]

21. The "Trilateral Commission" myth.

Sadly, I remember a lot of articles that came out about how Jimmy Carter was "created" by the "Rockefeller-dominated" Trilateral Commission. Articles about the alleged connection were everywhere, from Holly Sklar, to Mother Jones, even PENTHOUSE got into the act with "Cartergate: The Death of Democracy". The common thread through all these articles was that Jimmy Carter was a puppet president whose strings were pulled by David Rockefeller.

What got me so curious was after Reagan got elected, not a peep about who was pulling his strings...

[stillcool]

18. don't forget Iran/Contra...

where the Iranians negotiated release for hostages held in Lebanon for weapons sold to them by the US with Israel's assist.

[serryjw]

19. Time flies when you're having fun

I forgot about Terry Anderson

[cleveramerican]

24. google"the grand mufdi of Jerusalem"

it all goes back to him, and his anti-British revolt of 1941.