DID CIA ENGINEER THE IRANIAN PROTESTS?

by Gulamhusein A Abba

To claim that the CIA engineered the protests would be giving too much credit to that agency. It must be remembered that the protestors went to sleep on June 11 supremely confident that their candidate, Mousavi would be elected. Within a day of the announcement of results to the contrary, hundreds of thousands of protestors were out on the streets protesting. Even with the vast resources at its command, the CIA would not have been able organize so huge a protest at so short a notice.

Claiming that the CIA engineered the protest is insulting the progressive forces inIran.

It was a spontaneous protest by sincere and dedicated Iranians who believe in truth, justice and fair play and who are fed up with the power play by the entrenched, unelected clerics.

This is not to rule out the hand of the CIA completely. The US notoriously has been working for a regime change in Iran. After the Iranians replaced the puppet, despotic Shah of Iran with Mosaddeq, the CIA engineered a take-over and re-installed the Shah on his peacock throne. Then, ever since the people of Iran toppled the puppet Shah once more, put their beloved Ayatollah in charge of the country, took over of the American embassy there and held Americans hostages for 444 days, US has been working for a change of regime there.

Though under Bush the US administration was eager to use hard power to effect the change and was working towards it, covert action is one of the tools that the US is and has been using – in a big way. In this context, it is useful to read two articles. The first is by Esam Al-ASmin entitled, Iran and Washington's Hidden Hand, first published in Counterpunch (http://counterpunch.com/alamin06302009.html).

The second is by Seymour M. Hersh published in the July 7 issue of the New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh

Illustration: GUY BILLOUT