In 1953, the United States overthrew a democratically elected, very popular prime minister – Mohammad Mossadegh – in Iran. (Here is a good synopsis – The 1953 Iran Coup: How the U.S. Helped Overthrow a Democracy — and Why It Still Matters Today – Big Bend Times). Why? Oil and Colonialism. There’s more to it than that, of course – read the article – but it is the ultimately why we bailed England out and did their bidding. In 2013 we admitted that the 1953 coup was instigated by the CIA, which, after 60 years, brought little solace to the millions of dead and abused Iranians we left in our wake. We installed a puppet government led by the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – a tyrant – and he was overthrown in 1979 by what we politely called “the Islamic Revolution.” In the time since, a ruthless government led by a perversion of Islam has abused the people of that nation.
Now, we have attacked them and set off a flurry of drone and missile strikes. One thing is very clear: Iran is a danger to every nation in that region; they are a danger to their own people. They are a danger to us. Is this the right way to do this? The only people who know are the ones running the show, and I have learned over the years that none of us knows enough to really understand or judge. My distrust of this administration makes me believe there’s money to made, but that’s my bias. We have all watched as Iran has murdered 10’s of thousands of their people over the last year, and this war – sorry – conflict – will probably take a large toll as well. This I believe – the people of Iran have suffered for too long, and they deserve freedom – and it’s our fault they don’t have it.
We owe the people of Iran more than dead bodies and rubble – we owe them a debt for destroying their democracy and allowing the Shah – a greedy despot – to abuse them. We owe them for that act of colonialism, which followed years of England stealing from them. We owe them more than the destruction that will come – they deserve better. Sec. Hegseth has said that this isn’t about regime change, and that we aren’t going to turn this into another forever war – and we shouldn’t. However, I think it is our moral duty – if any of our leaders remember what that is – to help them rebuild and return to democracy. We are responsible for this mess, and I was always taught that we should leave things better than we found them. That’s what we owe the people of Iran.
Prayer – Holy God, be with the people of Iran as they continue to suffer and be with our service men and women – and those of other nations – as they, once again, risk their lives. Amen.
Today’s art is from Iran – “Untitled” by Mahmoud Farshchian, 1990.