Demonstrators ripped down imperial statues -- as they would again 26 years later during the Islamic revolution. The C.I.A. station cabled headquarters for advice on whether to continue with TP-Ajax or withdraw. Headquarters spent a day featured by depression and despair, the history states, adding, The message sent to Tehran on the night of Aug. 18 said that the operation has been tried and failed, and that in the absence of strong recommendations to the contrary operations against Mossadegh should be discontinued. THE SUCCESS C.I.A. and Moscow Are Both Surprised But just as the Americans were ready to quit, the mood on the streets of Tehran shifted. On the morning of Aug. 19, several Tehran papers published the shahs long-awaited decrees, and soon pro-shah crowds were building in the streets. They needed only leadership, the secret history says. And Iranian agents of the C.I.A. provided it. Without specific orders, a journalist who was one of the agencys most important Iranian agents led a crowd toward Parliament, inciting people to set fire to the offices of a newspaper owned by Dr. Mossadeghs foreign minister. Another Iranian C.I.A. agent led a crowd to sack the offices of pro-Tudeh papers. The news that something quite startling was happening spread at great speed throughout the city, the history states. The C.I.A. tried to exploit the situation, sending urgent messages that the Rashidian brothers and two key American agents should swing the security forces to the side of the demonstrators. But things were now moving far too quickly for the agency to manage. An Iranian Army colonel who had been involved in the plot several days earlier suddenly appeared outside Parliament with a tank, while members of the now-disbanded Imperial Guard seized trucks and drove through the streets. By 10:15 there were pro-shah truckloads of military personnel at all the main squares, the secret history says. By noon the crowds began to receive direct leadership from a few officers involved in the plot and some who had switched sides. Within an hour the central telegraph office fell, and telegrams were sent to the provinces urging a pro-shah uprising. After a brief shootout, police headquarters and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fell as well. The Tehran radio remained the biggest prize. With the governments fate uncertain, it was broadcasting a program on cotton prices. But by early afternoon a mass of civilians, army officers and policemen overwhelmed it. Pro-shah speakers went on the air, broadcasting the coups success and reading the royal decrees. At the embassy, C.I.A. officers were elated, and Mr. Roosevelt got General Zahedi out of hiding. An army officer found a tank and drove him to the radio station, where he spoke to the nation. Dr. Mossadegh and other government officials were rounded up, while officers supporting General Zahedi placed known supporters of TP-Ajax in command of all units of the Tehran garrison. The Soviet Union was caught completely off-guard. Even as the Mossadegh government was falling, the Moscow radio was broadcasting a story on the failure of the American adventure in Iran. But C.I.A. headquarters was as surprised as Moscow. When news of the coups success arrived, it seemed to be a bad joke, in view of the depression that Throughout the day, Washington got most of its information from news agencies, receiving only two cablegrams from the station. Mr. Roosevelt later explained that if he had told headquarters what was going on, London and Washington would have thought they were crazy and told them to stop immediately, the history states. Still, the C.I.A. took full credit inside the government. The following year it overthrew the government of Guatemala, and a myth developed that the agency could topple governments anywhere in the world. Iran proved that third world king-making could be heady. It was a day that should never have ended, the C.I.A.s secret history said, describing Aug. 19, 1953. For it carried with it such a sense of excitement, of satisfaction and of jubilation that it is doubtful whether any other can come up to it. still hung on from the day before, the history says
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 05:03:26 +0000
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