Perspective: Meanwhile -- An Iranian, a coup and regime change

Mohammad Mossadegh

I watched with anxiety President George W. Bush's seventh State of the Union address, hoping for words that would ease my fear that America would soon bomb Iran, my place of birth. The address however re- affirmed my worse nightmares.

Another war seems imminent, a war that will only weaken the fragile democracy movement in Iran and strengthen the regime that Washington hopes to change. This will be America's second regime change in Iran, the second time it sacrifices democracy and human rights in my country. The first regime change was the American- backed coup d'état in 1953.

I am a child of that coup. I was born a few days after the United States helped overthrow the popular democratic government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. Not long before my birth, facing nationwide protests, the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was forced to abdicate and flee the country. My mother told me how people celebrated in the streets of Tehran. Strangers gave one another flowers and sweets, crying with joy that the shah had gone.

The celebration did not last long. In a few days, the political landscape changed. Men paid by American agents roamed Tehran with their batons and chains, assaulting Mossadegh's supporters. Soon the shah returned, Mosaddegh was put under house arrest, and I opened my eyes to this world. As I would find out as an adult, I had been cheated by America.

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