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A Hard Fall:
Misadventure in the Middle East
Excerpts from various sources.
Centuries of interaction have left a bitter legacy between the world of
Islam and the Christian West, deriving largely from the fact that both
civilizations claim a universal message and mission and share much of the
same Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman heritage. Separated by conflict and
held together by common spiritual and material ties, Christians and Muslims
presented a religious, intellectual, and military challenge to each other.
The United States did not engage in any prolonged or bloody
encounters with Muslim states and societies unlike Europe. In the first part
of the 20th Century the United States established dynamic and cordial
relations with Arabs and Muslims who viewed America more favorably than
European nations. American perceptions of Islam were negatively shaped
by the Iranian Revolution of the 1970’s.1
In 1951, Mohammad Mosaddeq had risen to power in Iran. He was a
shrewd politician who challenged the monopoly over his country’s oil by the
British company Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The company exploited Iran
for decades giving Iran only 20% of the profits from its own oil. When a
U.S. oil company struck a deal with Saudi Arabia that included a 50% share
of the profits, Mosaddeq demanded the same. The British refused. The U.S.
soon had a new President in Dwight Eisenhower and this administration did
not trust Mosaddeq’s nationalism, which he felt was fueled by the Tudeh, a
communist party. The U.S. and communist Soviet Union were rivals in a
dangerous nuclear showdown after World War II. Their Cold War involved
strategic positioning for natural resources and Iran was no exception.
1
Fawaz Gerges, America and Political Islam,(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999) pgs. 37,42.
1
The Iranian government began to seize the oil fields and produce oil
for sale. International oil companies backed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
(as did the U.S. government) with a boycott and Iran could not sell the oil.
Mosaddeq held a referendum vote on his policies and earned 95% approval,
though the U.S. felt the results of the election were fixed. Fearing
Mosaddeq’s power and communist leanings, the CIA allegedly found
opposition to Mosaddeq and paid off other Iranians to hold massive
demonstrations and create chaos. Mosaddeq was arrested and Mohammad
Reza Shah Pahlavi was installed as the “Shah of Iran”. Pahlavi was pro-U.S.
and American oil companies even negotiated a percentage of Anglo-Iranian
Oil Company’s profits.2
Over the next two decades, the Shah was very supportive of the
United States but alienated Iranians by westernizing the nation and using the
military too often to maintain his control. Shia Muslims objected to the
Shah’s tactics and their religious leaders, the ayatollahs, were quite vocal.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini attempted to seize power in 1963 but was
exiled to Iraq and later France where the Shah hoped he would be forgotten.
The Ayatollah however, communicated through audio tapes created for his
growing followers. The Shah was in trouble.
With his government unable to provide proper sewage or water
facilities to the areas surrounding Tehran and his government corrupt with
oil money, many Iranians flocked to the security of the beliefs of the
ayatollahs, including Khomeini. Americans were shocked to hear the
Ayatollah Khomeini call their nation a “Great Satan” for its support of the
Shah and his excesses.
2
Walter LaFeber, The American Age: U.S. Foreign Policy at Home and Abroad 1750 to the Present, (New
York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994) Pg. 545.
2
By February, 1979, the Iranian army struck a deal with the ayatollahs
and the Shah was forced to flee for his life. Ayatollah Khomeini took power
and continued to denounce Western and American ways. One month after
the revolution, the Khomeini’s followers attacked the U.S. Embassy in
Tehran and kidnapped 53 Americans. As Iranians paraded and mocked the
hostages on television worldwide, U.S. officials were helpless. President
Jimmy Carter did send a rescue mission into Iran to remove the hostages but
two helicopters crashed due to mechanical problems caused by sand washing
into turbines and another crashed into a C-130 cargo plane in the Iranian
desert. The hostages were held for 444 days and 8 Americans died in the
botched rescue mission.3
The results of these decades in Iran were traumatic in the short and
long term. The short term situation was the dramatic increase in oil and gas
prices in the United States by 60%. The rate of inflation doubled from a
high 7% to 13%, nearly sending the world economy into a tailspin. Looking
at the situation from a long term perspective, the United States had not been
subjected to this type of confrontation and deemed the Iranians as
uncompromising and irrational. President Carter detailed his hostage
negotiations with Iranian officials as, “We are dealing with a crazy group.”
This group of Muslims was seen as extremists, terrorists, and fanatics. In
the eyes of the administration and the American public at large, the U.S.
now had a new threat, political Islam.4
3
4
Ibid, pg. 697, 698.
Gerges, American and Political Islam, pg. 42-43.
3
Review Questions:
1. Through the early 20th Century, how would you characterize the
relationship between the United States and the Middle East?
2. What did Mohammad Mosaddeq want that caused tension in the
region? How did the U.S. play a role in his demands?
3. How did the United States intervene in Iranian politics and who
replaced Mosaddeq? How was this new leader good for the U.S.?
4. How did Ayatollah Khomeini seize power in Iran? How did the
hostage situation of 1979 color American opinion of Islam?
4