Once in an attempt to show us his craftiness, he told us how he obtained his Swiss motorcycle driving license. When he told me this story, the mere thought of Dr. Mossadegh riding a mo¬ torcycle simply boggled my mind. At the time he was a student at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland and he went to take his driving test. The inspector did not actually ride with him. He told Mossadegh to ride down to the lake and then come back. Mossadegh said that he rode the motorcycle down to the lake but he did not know how to stop it. When he got down to the lakeshore, the site of an open-air market, he crashed into a fruit stand run by an elderly Swiss woman, overturning the stand. She looked at him and shouted, “Cochon, cochon!’’ Mossadegh looked at us casually and said, “Can you imagine what that meant to me, a Moslem, to be called a pig?” He then picturesquely said, “I paid her money for the damages, but dur¬ ing this time the motorcycle was lying on its side screaming. Fi¬ nally, I turned it off, righted it, got on and rode slowly back up the hill. When I saw the inspector, he said, 'Mr. Mossadegh, you have taken a long time. You must have driven very care¬ fully. I congratulate you. Here is your driving license.’ ” All of these stories had helped to form Mossadegh’s idea of the West and his conviction that if one held out long enough or connived carefully, one could get almost anything. This attitude led of course to unparalleled haggling over the whole issue.
As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I preface this with that I believe MI6 overthrew the Shah of Iran and installed a British MI6 asset in the Ayathollah to rule Iran as communists always do, for the benefit of the bank of London.
To Americans the "negotiatoins which always go on with Iran seem insane, because they hate Americans. As I have been sharing the memoirs of Vernon Walters, I include his time in Iran with Special Envy Harriman through their leader at that time, Dr. Mossadegh. Just so you know in reading the following........the Iranians LOVED Americans at this time and hated the British. They treated the United States with the same weird negotiations which are taking place now in hating America.
This is Persian mentality.
Nothing prepared me for the first meeting with Dr. Mos¬ sadegh at his home in a residential part of Teheran. I had read in the papers about his fits of weeping, his dramatics and the¬ atrics in the Iranian Parliament. Mossadegh in person was quite startling.
He frequently "fainted to death" in front of Parliament and had to have medical attention, with a heartbeat showing that as strong as an ox.
Dr. Mossadegh was in an extremely anti-British mood. Every¬ thing from Iran’s low standard of living to the fact that Iran no longer occupied the same prominent place in the world which it had at various times in history was in his mind due entirely to the machinations and craftiness of the British. He looked at Mr. Harriman and said, “You do not know how crafty they are. You do not know how evil they are. You do not know how they sully everything they touch.”
The United States has been in "talks" with Iran since Carter bungled the business with the Shaw in 1979. That is over 40 years ago, and as it was in 1950, America is taking steps back from where it started in 1979.
It seemed to me that he reversed Lenin'sadage that one must take a step backward in order to take twoforward. Dr. Mossedegh had learned to take one step forward inorder to take two backward. After a day's discussions, Mr. Har-riman would bring Mossadegh to a certain position. The nextday when we returned to renew the discussion, not only was Mossadegh not at the position where he was at the end of theprevious day, he wasn't even at the position where he had beenat the beginning of the day before that. He was somewhere back around the middle of the day before yesterday. I often had the impression that instead of going forward we were actually moving backward.
Yes the Great Satan is responsible for all Iranian ills. It all began with that American, Alexander the Great of Greece apparently.
He was obsessed with the idea that Iran bore no share of re¬ sponsibility for her difficulties. One day he began a conversation by saying, “Iran’s problems have always been caused by for¬ eigners. The whole thing began with that Greek Alexander,” re¬ ferring to Alexander’s burning Persepolis 2,400 years before as though the event had occurred in the recent past.
When the Persians took over Anglo Iranian oil, London fumed over this, and finally got rid of the Shah with Jimmy Carter's human rights nonsense. While the Shah and his family were reasonable, we have had nothing but this group of tubanhead communists of Persia investing a great deal of time in hatred for America, not the London problem, as the British continued giving American things, like drones to Iran and missiles for a war in the Mideast where the Mahdi apparently is Prince William and he will rule over the radioactive glowing sands
In the end, the Persians wanted one thing, and that was more than the price of what was the price of a barrel of oil.
Nothing really has changed in enmity or friendship with Iran.
It was truly a negotiation unlike any negotiation I have ever seen in my life. Dr. Mossadegh had a violent anti-British fixa¬ tion. After several weeks, in an attempt to make the conver¬ sation more personal, Mr. Harriman asked him whether he had any • grandchildren. A few moments before, Mossadegh had delivered a ten-minute soliloquy on the evils and perversity of the British. Mossadegh said he had one grandson, who was the apple of his eye. Mr. Harriman said, “But I don’t think I’ve met your grandson.” “No,” replied Mossadegh. “He is out of the country away at school.” “Oh,” said Mr. Harriman. “Where is he at school?” Mossadegh uttered a loud giggle and answered, “Why, in England, of course. Where else?” This was typical of the contradictions in the man’s nature. He did, however, per¬ ceive the comic nature of his reply.
and lastly, this is the Ayatollahs in they are all the same animal.
Mr. Harriman, keenly aware of the intense pressure which the ultra-nationalists and fanatics were bringing on Mossadegh, felt that perhaps a personal visit to the mullah, or religious leader, Ayatollah Kashani, would break the impasse. He was told that this would do no good, that Kashani was a fanatic, and that no negotiations with him could serve any useful purpose. Mr. Harriman insisted, nevertheless, that he wanted to talk to Mullah Kashani. Finally, with some difficulty, an appointment was ar¬ ranged.
Mullah Kashani lived in the suburb of Gulhaq, which was halfway between downtown Teheran and our palace in Shimran. Up to this time most of the things I had seen in Iran struck me as being much more Western than I had expected, but when we reached the mullah’s house, I found a place that looked satisfactorily oriental to me. The mullah himself wore a turban and a huge beard. We were taken into a heavily draperied room where it seemed to me that from time to time I could see movement behind the draperies.
Mr. Harriman attempted to discuss these matters with the mullah. The mullah again told him he knew nothing about the British, who were the most evil people in the world. Harriman replied somewhat testily that he did. He had been Ambassador there, he had dealt with them over a period of years and we had fought two wars with them, which was more than Iran had done. Then the mullah, looking extremely crafty and stroking his beard, asked Mr. Harriman, “Mr. Harriman, have you ever heard of Major Embry?” “No,” replied Mr. Harriman, shaking his head, “I have never heard of him.” “Well,” said the mullah, “He was an American who came to Iran in 1911 or 1912. He dabbled in oil, which was none of his business, and aroused the hatred of the people. One day, walking in Teheran, he was shot down in the street, but he was not killed. They took him to the hospital. The enraged mob followed to the hospital, burst into the hospital and butchered him on the operating table.” The mullah looked at Mr. Harriman and said, “Do you under¬ stand?” Mr. Harriman’s lips tightened, and I could see that he was furious. In a very steely voice, he said, “Your Eminence, you must understand that I have been in many dangerous situations in my life and I do not frighten easily.” “Well,” shrugged the mullah, “there was no harm in trying.” The interview was fruit¬ less. The mullah maintained his rigid position.
Nuff Said
agtG
