The Department of State has blocked the publication of the controversial Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) history of CIA covert action in Iran in the 1950s over concerns it will negatively effect current negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. Covert CIA involvement in the 1953 coup to overthrow democratically-elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq has been an open secret for years, and was confirmed by the CIA itself last year, making the decision to continue to withhold the historically significant volume all the more disappointing. The FRUS volume was initially published in 1989 but received intense criticism for its failure to mention the CIA’s involvement in the coup. Congress passed a law in 1991 to help address this glaring omission, requiring a reissue of the Iran volume, as well as those on relations with Guatemala (1954), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1960–1968) that also ignored the CIA’s role in foreign policy. [...]
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 09:09:50 +0000