Ms. Debby Preiser introduces the famed New York Times
Journalist and Author, Mr. Stephen Kinzer
for the audience and the cameras of CSPAN cable news.
Oak Park Journal photo
Stephen Kinzer ponders the moment before
addressing the gathering.
Oak Park Journal photo
Stephen Kinzer a gifted writer and speaker
captures
the attention and admiration of the audience.
Oak Park Journal photo
Oak Park Trustee Galen Gockel listens to Mr.
Stephen Kinzer's remarks on the Middle
East.
Oak Park Journal photo
An Iranian expatriate listens to Mr. Kinzer and later
comments that he was in Tehran when the coup took
place. Other Iranian citizens thanked Stephen Kinzer
publicly and privately for his writing of the book.
Oak Park Journal photo
Mr. Kinzer signs many books for the audience
and welcomes all quesstions.
Oak Park Journal photo
Oak Park Journal photo
One of best places to find this book,
and the store that I would begin
any search with is the new Book
Table, right across the street from
the Lake Theater. The prices
in the store are lower than any other in town and their selection is one
of the most eclectic to be found anywhere in Chicago...nice people too.
Book Table (708)
386-9800
1045 Lake Street, Oak Park,
IL
ALL THE SHAH'S MEN
An American Coup And The Roots
Of Middle East Terror
By Stephen Kinzer
review by Ed Vincent
“All the Shah’s Men”, by Stephen Kinzer is a must read
for
anyone interested in news, history, or just a remarkably
good
read. If William Shakespeare were alive today
he would take
either one or more of the true to life characters
in Mr. Kinzer’s
work of art and bring them to the stage.
The trials and tribulations of human existence were
well
defined thousands of years ago and in this historical
bit of
gifted writing and research by Kinzer, we find those
same
motives present in many of our lifetimes and consequences
for all to bear. This book should be a prerequisite
for anyone
either in the United States Congress or anyone wishing
to go
there, for anything but a short vacation visit.
There is room
for much discussion concerning the Middle East and
this book
is an essential tool to begin that dialogue.
Kinzer’s book is
balanced and sensitive to the truth of objective history
and
written with the feel of a novel. Mr. Kinzer
has told me that
this may very well be one of his best books and that
he was
very pleased to come upon the material. I think
that he is
being modest. This was a grand undertaking from
the start
and Mr. Kinzer achieved his goals. This is a
very topical
read and one that would make a great gift for yourself
and
others in your life, at this time of giving.
When Mr. Kinzer spoke at the new Oak Park Public Library,
and was filmed by CSPAN, the room was packed with
admirers
and the curious.
Mr. Kinzer noted at the start of his talk "There is
nothing new in the world other then the history which is not known".
Stephen Kinzer's talk was a mouth watering taste of
what was
to follow in the pages of his book. The audience
was filled
with a group of unique citizens, there was a young
Iranian woman, born in the United States and thankful for the writing of
Mr. Kinzer's, an Iranian gentleman who was in Iran at the time of overthrow
of Mohammad Mossadegh, and a former CIA operative who was in the dark at
the time of the coup.
"The US has come to a position of power so soon, we
are not able to comprehend and deal with this dominance." Mr.
Kinzer went on to explain how the Roman, English and Spanish empires
took generations and hundreds of years to reach their
power and ruling dominance. Our story has a
long way to go.
I would highly recommend "All the Shah's Men" as a
start
down that road.
ALL THE SHAH'S MEN
An American Coup And The Roots
Of Middle East Terror
By Stephen Kinzer
Fifty years ago this summer,
in a bold and far-reaching covert operation, the CIA overthrew the elected
government of Iran. A new book tells the full story of that plot for the
first time.
ALL THE SHAH'S MEN: An American
Coup And The Roots Of Middle East Terror (Wiley; July 11, 2003; $24.95/Cloth)
by New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer, is centered around an hour-by-hour
reconstruction of the events of August 1953. It concludes that although
the coup seemed successful at first, its "haunting and terrible legacy"
is now becoming clear.
Operation Ajax, as the plot
was code-named, reshaped the history of Iran, the Middle East and the world.
It restored Mohammad Reza Shah to the Peacock Throne, allowing him to impose
a tyranny that ultimately sparked the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The Islamic Revolution, in turn,
inspired fundamentalists throughout the Muslim world, including the Taliban
and terrorists who thrived under
its protection.
"It is not far-fetched," Kinzer
asserts in his book, "to draw a line from Operation Ajax through the Shah's
repressive regime and the Islamic Revolution to the fireballs that engulfed
the World Trade Center in New York."
Drawing on research in the United
States and Iran, and using material from a long-secret CIA report, Kinzer
explains the background of the coup and tells how it was carried out.
It is a cloak-and-dagger
story of spies, saboteurs and secret agents. There are accounts of bribes,
staged riots, suitcases full of cash, and midnight meetings between the
Shah and CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt, who was smuggled in and out of the
royal palace under a blanket in the back seat of a car.
Roosevelt, the grandson
of President Theodore Roosevelt, was a real-life James Bond in an
era when CIA agents operated mainly by their wits. After his first coup
attempt failed, he organized a second attempt that succeeded three days
later.
The colorful cast of characters
includes the lerrified young Shah. who fled his country at the first sign
of trouble; General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, father of the Gulf War commander
and the radio voice of "Gang Busters," who flew to Tehran on a secret mission
that helped set the coup in motion; and the fiery Prime Minister Mohammad
Mossadegh, who outraged the West by nationalizing the immensely
profitable Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
The British, outraged
by the seizure of their oil company, persuaded President Dwight Elsenhower
that Mossadegh was leading Iran toward Communism. Elsenhower and Prime
Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain became the coup's main sponsors.
Brimming with insights
into Middle Eastern history and American foreign policy, ALL THE
SHAH'S MEN is an eye-opening look at an event whose unintended consequences—Islamic
revolution and violent anti-Americanism—have shaped the modem world.
As the United States assumes an ever-widening role in the Middle East,
it is essential reading.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Stephen Kinzer, author of this new book, is a veteran foreign correspondent
who has covered more than 50 countries on four continents. He is co-author
of "Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the CIA Coup in Guatemala," and author
of "Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua" and "Crescent and Star:
Turkey Between Two Worlds."
ALL THE SHAH'S MEN
An American Coup And The Roots Of Middle East Terror
By Stephen Kinzer
Wiley, July 11, 2003; $24.95/Cloth
ISBN: 0-471-26517-9
Wiley Books are available at your local bookstore or by calling 1-800-225-5945.
In Canada, call 1-800-567-4797.
For the latest on what's happening at Wiley, check out our World
Wide web site at: http://www. -wiley. corn
Q: What do most Iranians think of their Islamic
government?
A: The regime is highly unpopular. A huge majority of Iranians oppose
it. There is no question that the regime is doomed. The remaining questions
are: when will it fall, how will it fall, and what will take its place?
Q: What do they think of the United States?
Would they welcome American intervention?
A: Until 1953, most Iranians loved and admired the United States.
They despised the Russians and the British, who oppressed and trampled
on them, but saw America as the beacon of freedom. That all changed in
1953, when the CIA organized a coup that deposed the last democratic government
Iran ever had. Americans have forgotten that episode, but it burns in the
consciousness of Iranians. Even most of those who hate their
present government would hate an American-imposed regime even more
intensely.
Q: How serious is the current unrest in Iran?
Could it lead to another revolution?
A: The unrest is growing steadily and is a sign of the regime's
slow collapse. But Iranians have bitter memories of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
They joined to overthrow the Shah because they believed nothing could be
worse than his dictatorship. Now they realize they were wrong, since the
current government is even more tyrannical the old one was. Today, most
Iranians want a revolution, but before they give it their support, they
want to know what will come afterward.
Q: Would pressure from the United States accelerate
the process of change, or would it be counter-productive?
A: American support for any group, party or individual in Iran would
be a kiss of death. Bitterness at the United States for having organized
the 1953 coup is still intense. Many Iranians blame their last 50 years
of dictatorship on the Americans. The United States needs to resist the
temptation to become involved in the Iran turmoil. Letting events take
their course will lead to the result we want, although perhaps not as quickly
as we would
like.
Q: What options are being considered by the
Bush administration regarding Iran? Might we see an American invasion
like the one in Iraq?
A: The current upheaval in Iraq is consuming all of the Bush administration's
attention these days, and there is no prospect of a military invasion of
Iran anytime soon. That could change, however, if Iraq begins to calm down
and hard-liners in Washington manage to win President Bush to their side.
An American invasion would be a catastrophic folly. It would encourage
the most repressive elements in Iran to seize power, using the excuse that
they are saving the country from the same Americans who
brought it 50 years of pain and suffering.
Q: Is it true that the Iranian government has
sponsored terrorism?
A: The Iranian government is more a collection of different groups
than a united regime. Some of those groups have dedicated themselves
to sponsoring terrorism and assassination around the world. I myself covered
one of those cases while living in Berlin; a leading opponent of the Iranian
regime, along with several colleagues, was killed in a spray of gunfire
at a downtown restaurant. Later a German judge concluded that senior Iranian
officials including the intelligence chief and the president had personally
authorized the murders. Most of the accusations the Bush Administration
used to tie Iraq to terrorism were false; in the case of Iran, many are
true.
Q: Is it true that Iran is trying to build
a nuclear bomb, and if so how dangerous is that? How should we react?
A: The nuclear power program that the United States is so worried
about in Iran was actually begun with American help, while the Shah was
in power. At that time we didn't see anything strange about a huge oil
producer being so interested in nuclear power. Now we do. Iran's nuclear
program is indeed a dangerous threat, but our efforts to mobilize the
world against it are failing. Other countries are telling the United States,
"You don't
listen to our concerns any more, and prefer to do whatever you want
in the world. So why should we listen to you concerns?"
Q: If the current regime in Iran falls,
what would take its place?
A: There are three possible models for government in Iran:
religious rule, monarchy, or democracy. People have had their fill of the
first two. Iranians are sophisticated and increasingly envious of the prosperity
that democracy has brought to other countries. They look back longingly
on the democracy they enjoyed until the American intervention of 1953.
We think of the United States as a champion of democracy, but as a result
of what we did in 1953, Iranians see us as just the opposite.
Q: Fifty years ago this summer, the CIA
overthrew the last democratic government Iran
ever had. What has been the long-term effect of that coup? What lessons
can we learn from it?
A: The 1953 coup was intended to safeguard freedom in Iran,
but ended
up destroying it. The story of its terrible after-effects is a stark
warning to the United States. Forcing "regime change" often seems like
a success at first, but these victories can come back to haunt the victors,
often in devastating and tragic ways. This is especially true in the Middle
East where tradition, history and religion shape political life in ways
that many
outsiders do not understand.
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