"Operation
Ajax"
Source for the Wilber Report:
|
|
|
This map (click
for larger image) shows the distribution of bands of "ruffians," leaders of
street gangs in Tehran paid to demonstrate by CIA and SIS coup organizers
(i.e. the Rashidian brothers) on the morning of
August 19, 1953. The bands gathered in the bazaar and other sections of
southern Tehran, the city's poorest district, and with money provided by the CIA
paid people to protest against Mossadeq, moving
north through the capital. Gang leaders' names appear at left along with the
estimated size of their groups and their targets. Source: Ali Rahnema, Behind the
1953 Coup in Iran: Thugs, Turncoats, Soldiers and Spooks (Cambridge
University Press, 2014). |
Step 3: Having read through the
secondary accounts and excerpts of the Wilber report, let us wrap up the
assignment with the following video clip (6:19) on "Operation Ajax" and the prompt below.
The video from the early/mid-2000s is about the coup's long-term implications
for US-Iranian relations and includes an interview with Stephen Kinzer, author
of All the Shah's Men (2003) about
the coup, and others who discuss how the CIA toppled Iran's nascent democracy
of the early 1950s. It bemoans the possibility of an invasion of Iran by the
George Bush Jr. administration, which obviously did not happen. (Source:
documentary on YouTube).
|
|
Step
3 (cont'd): Historians writing history must
always take into account secondary accounts of the events they are studying
and, of course, examine and interpret primary sources as well, which is
exactly what we have done in this assignment. Was
there any one thing from the excerpt of the Wilber report that you found particularly
interesting or surprising? Why (or why not?) (Respond in 2-4 sentences). Finally,
taking all the various sources for
this assignment into consideration, list at least five
(up to ten) aspects of
the event that you think definitely should be included in an accurate account
of "Operation Ajax." |
