Download Chapter 19 “Reassertion of Islamic Power”

Chapter 19
“Reassertion of Islamic Power”
Iranian Revolution
• To consider about Iran in mid-late 20th Century: Iran
has its Persian pre-Islamic heritage; adheres to 12Imam Shi’ism; Ulama continues to enjoy prestige,
even in face of westernization
• Pahlavi Dynasty rules from 1925 – 1979. First Reza
Khan, than his son Mohammad Reza
• Mohammad Reza (the Shah) tied closely with the
U.S. after U.S. orchestrated coup brings him back to
power
• In early 1960s, Shah begins to repress those
groups he saw as blocking Iran’s modernization:
rural landlords, Ulama, and bazaar merchants
• In 1963 White Revolution, the Shah:
1. Sold state-owned enterprises to private
interests
2. Granted women suffrage
3. Initiated western education reforms
• Ulama is adverse to these changes. The fiercest
critic to emerge is a teacher from Qom,
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
• The Shah used bribes to silence Ulama.
Khomeini, however, won’t be silenced. He is
forced into exile to Iraq
A young Khomeini
• Some relevant statistics:
• Iranian Oil Revenue:
1968 - $817 million
1973 - $2 billion
1976 - $20 billion
• Population of Tehran:
1945 – 1 million
1975 – 5 million
• Iran was growing too big for its
britches:
1. Ports not large enough to handle
rise in trade
2. Schools and universities turned
out thousands of highly trained
people, but not enough jobs for
them all
•
“Imagine the revolutionary
potential of a growing army of
unemployed intellectuals
concentrated in Tehran!”
•
The SAVAK censored, jailed, and
killed thousands of opponents of
Shah
College of Fine Arts at
Tehran University
• Ultimately, the White Revolution failed for the
following reasons:
1. Overly ambitious plans of the impatient Shah who
wanted Iran to rival Europe and the U.S. overnight
2. An underskilled bureaucratic elite
3. Strong resistance from popular traditional leaders:
Ulama, merchants, tribal leaders
4. Oil boom created more wealth than the economy
could absorb and corrupted those who profited
from it
• In January, 1978, religious students loyal to Khomeini began sit-ins
in Qom. Police attacked, killing several and sparking nationwide
riots
• In September, 1978, police opened fire on a mass demonstration in
Tehran’s Jaleh Square, killing between 300-1000 in what became
known as “Black Friday”
• Demonstrators demanded a return to the 1906 Constitution
allowing Parliamentary government and to allow Khomeini to
return from exile in Iraq
• Shah asked Iraq to exile Khomeini. They did, Khomeini flees to Paris
• From Paris, Khomeini used the media to call for a workers’ strike
across Iran. Oil production nearly stopped. Oil prices shot up. U.S. is
concerned.
• The Shah declared martial law in Nov., 1978
• A full-scale workers strike took effect countrywide. Mobs burned
symbols of western influence: liquor stores, cinemas
• The Shah left into exile on Jan. 13th, 1979. Khomeini arrived soon
after to set up the new government
Khomeini
directing the
revolution from
Paris
Est. of Islamic Republic, 1979
• Under new constitution, legislative power is
given to the Ulama. In contested cases,
Khomeini gave the verdict as the state’s
leading judicial expert
• Executive includes the Parliament, and is led
by Premier Mehdi Bazargan
• All vestiges of Shah’s regime are destroyed
Hostage Crisis, Nov. 1979
• Iranians anxiously watched the
movements of the exiled Shah. He
moved around a lot, but was also
very ill. Pressured by the Shah’s
friends (among them Kissinger) the
Shah was admitted into New York
for treatment
• In response, armed men and
women stormed the U.S. Embassy
in Tehran and took 63 Americans
hostage. They demanded that the
U.S. send the Shah back to Iran for
trial and apologize for its role in his
crimes and human rights abuses
• The U.S. stopped buying Iranian oil
and froze $11 billion in Iranian
assets in U.S. banks
Iranian militants escort a
blindfolded American hostage
• “In effect, the Ayatollah and the militant students holding the
Embassy came to symbolize Third World peoples’ new
assertiveness against Western power; in the eyes of the
American public, they stood for their government’s weakness
against ‘militant Islam’”
• In Dec., 1979, the USSR invades Afghanistan. This makes Iran
nervous
• The Hostage Crisis sparked the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Movement of U.S. forces into the Indian Ocean
Iraq’s invasion of Iran in September, 1980
Reagan’s decisive victory over Carter in 1980 elections
Iranian and American economy hurt by oil embargo
• A U.S. attempt to rescue hostages in April,
1980 failed.
• The Shah dies in July, 1980
• With the Shah dead, and at war with Iraq,
Iran agreed to mediation.
• Carter, on his last day in office, concludes
negotiations for the freeing of the
hostages in return for the unfreezing of
Iranian assets and a promise not to
meddle in Iranian affairs
• Hostages are freed on January 21, 1980,
minutes after Reagan had been sworn in
as President
Struggle for Persian Gulf Supremacy
• U.S. feared the Soviets might try and gain
control of oil in the Persian Gulf region
following their invasion of Afghanistan
• The Carter Doctrine: “Any attempt by an
outside force to gain control of the Gulf area
would be seen as an attack on U.S. vital
interests and could lead to war”
Iran – Iraq War (1980 – 1988)
• Iraq beginning in 1970s began its fight for Middle East supremacy
• Iraq came under Baath Party control in 1963 after coup disposed
Kassem. Under leadership of Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. Baathists are
socialist and secular
•
Saddam Hussein, a young Baath strongman, gains power in the
party throughout the 60s and 70s
Hussein with other
young Baathists in
Cairo. Pre-1963
• Hussein used his power to push al-Bakr aside and becomes
President in July, 1979
• Iraq had a developed economic infrastructure for oil and
agriculture (Tigris & Euphrates Rivers)
• Even though Iraq was divided ethnically and between Shi’i and
Sunni, Hussein through authoritarian rule kept stability. He
wanted to prove himself as the uniter of the Arabs. Hussein
believed strongly in Pan-Arabism and this was definitely a goal
of his.
• Hussein attacks Iran in September, 1980. He accused Iran of
violating a 1975 treaty over a border dispute. Hussein was
also fearful that Iran was going to try and dispose him in order
to spread their Islamic Revolution
• Iran had the clear military advantage with a larger army and
better weaponry
• Iraq hoped that Iran’s Arab minorities would join them; Iran
hoped that Iraq’s Shi’I majority would join them. Neither
happened.
• Iraq supported by Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt
• Iran supported by Syria, Libya and Israel. Israel supported Iran
only because they feared more that an Iraqi victory would
embolden Arab militants and the Pan-Arab movement
• The Soviet Union sold arms to both sides
• The United States began
supporting Iraq publicly in 1982
as Iran was making headway in
the war. The U.S. sent military
and economic aid.
• However, as the war dragged on,
the U.S. and Israel hoped to
prevent a decisive victory by
either side.
• Both countries began secretly
selling arms to Iran. The United
States used proceeds from the
arms sales to fund the Contras
(anti-Sandanista rebels in
Nicaragua) in what is known as
the “Iran-Contra Affair”
Special envoy Donald
Rumsfeld greeting Hussein
in 1983. Rumsfeld would be
Sec. of Defense during
invasion of Iraq in 2003
Iranian soldier protecting himself from Hussein’s widespread use of
chemical weapons during the war
• Iran, nearly bankrupt, began asking for a ceasefire in
1987. Both sides agree to a ceasefire in August, 1988
• Casualties of Iran-Iraq war:
IRAN: 700,000 – 1 million killed (civilian and military)
IRAQ: 375,000 – 500,000 killed or wounded (civilian
and military)
• The war is the most deadly of all modern Middle East
wars
Retreat From Camp David Accords
• Most Egyptian Arabs were unhappy with Sadat for Camp
David. Also frustrated with great economic disparities within
the country
• Begin of Israel continued to settle West Bank, against his
promise to move towards Palestinian autonomy in those areas
• Frustrated Egyptians joined Marxist and/or Islamic
organizations
• Sadat responds by banning the Muslim Brothers magazine
and imposing censorship on Mosque sermons
• Sadat is assassinated in October, 1981
• Husni Mubarak (an Air Force hero
from 1973 war) is chosen to succeed
Sadat
• Mubarak institutes social and
economic reforms that please the
lower classes; keeps tight controls on
Muslim revolutionaries, but frees
those who’d been jailed by Sadat;
severs relations with Israel in 1982
after Israel invaded Lebanon
• Egypt resumed diplomatic ties with
its Arab neighbors and the popular
Mubarak was elected to another
term in 1984
Husni Mubarak
Israel’s Rising Militancy
• Reagan sought to develop a “strategic consensus”
between Israel and Arab states in opposition to
Soviet expansion in Middle East. He planned to do
this with arms sales
• Begin meanwhile continued an aggressive campaign
against PLO. This included attacks on PLO strongholds
in South Lebanon, even with UN peacekeeping forces
on the ground there!
• Begin bombs an Iraqi nuclear reactor in June, 1981
Israel’s Invasion of Lebanon, 1982
• The strife in Lebanon – Christian vs Muslim, rich vs poor,
Lebanese separatists vs Arab nationalist – went on and on
• A massive IDF invasion of Lebanon began on June 6th, 1982.
IDF soldiers bypassed UN peacekeepers and pushed back PLO
and Syrian forces. Israeli planes bombed Beirut. Thousands of
civilians were killed
• The U.S. vetoed UN Security Council Resolutions condemning
Israel and continued supplying arms to Israel
• Iran came to aid of PLO and Syrians by establishing
revolutionary training centers and providing arms
• A joint U.S. – French – Italian force enters Lebanon to mediate
a tenuous ceasefire to help Lebanon elect a new President.
The top candidate was assassinated, reigniting violence
• Hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children were
massacred by IDF and Lebanese Christian forces at Shatila and
Sabra. An Israeli commission found that General Ariel Sharon
was responsible and called for his exclusion from future
government posts
• For peace to occur in Lebanon, the Syrians, Palestinian
militants, Israeli invaders, UN peacekeepers and the
multinational force of Italy, France and the U.S. would all have
to leave the country. But, in what order?!
• Meanwhile, Shi’I terrorists (Hezbollah) emerged in South
Lebanon, backed by Iran.
• Hezbollah attacked U.S. marine barracks in Beirut killing 241
American servicemen and 58 French servicemen
• They also bombed U.S. embassies in Beirut and Kuwait
• The multinational force leaves in 1984
Coffins of Marines from Beirut bombing
Aftermath of barrack bombing in Beirut
Terrorist Triumph
• The fighting raged on in Lebanon
• IDF withdrew in 1985
• Hezbollah gained credit for driving out the
West and Israel. They continued acts of terror,
notably a number of kidnappings of foreigners
for which they demanded ransoms