Hate began festering in 1953

Why do they hate us?

We hear that basic question asked, any number of ways, by President George W. Bush with his trademark shrug. “They,” of course, means our Axis of Evil enemies, plus their surrogates, et al. Then Bush answers the question: They hate us because we’re free; they hate freedom.

Hmm ...

Why anyone would accept such a ludicrous statement at face value is hard to figure. Yet, I’m certain Republicans in Congress would obediently line up around the block to chime in agreement to say: Yes, they hate what we love -- freedom, justice and the American way.

At the head of the line would be Sen. George “97%” Allen, who totally supports the Bush Middle East policy. The Bush policy also asserts -- if they hate us, then we just won’t talk with them.

So, with Lebanon ablaze and threatening to turn the entire Middle East into who-knows-what? the USA can’t/won’t talk with Syria, or Iran, because they hate us. That, even though we know those two countries have great influence over groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, as well as some of the blood-thirsty sects blowing up cars and shooting at us in Iraq.

Well, I hardly have any claim on understanding the intricacies of the layers of politics in the Middle East. But you don’t really have to be an expert to know the 20th century history of that region was filled with toppling regimes and battles over oil. And, I know in my gut that when Bush pretends he doesn’t understand why some Iranians aren’t so happy with the USA, he is choosing to ignore a 26-year reign of terror in Iran, 1953-79, that history says flowed directly from greedy mischief initiated by Great Britain and America.

In 2000 the New York Times obtained and then published a comprehensive inside look at the CIA’s role in the 1953 coup, written by the chief planner of the operation. Maybe you also wonder why people in that part of the world don’t believe Bush when he says we’re only trying to “spread democracy.”

Well, in 1953, the USA helped snuff democracy in Iran:

“For nearly five decades, America’s role in the military coup that ousted Iran’s elected prime minister and returned the shah to power has been lost to history, the subject of fierce debate in Iran and stony silence in the United States. One by one, participants have retired or died without revealing key details, and the Central Intelligence Agency said a number of records of the operation -- its first successful overthrow of a foreign government -- had been destroyed.

“But a copy of the agency’s secret history of the coup has surfaced [in 2000], revealing the inner workings of a plot that set the stage for the Islamic revolution in 1979, and for a generation of anti-American hatred in one of the Middle East’s most powerful countries...

“...The coup was a turning point in modern Iranian history and remains a persistent irritant in Tehran-Washington relations. It consolidated the power of the shah, who ruled with an iron hand for 26 more years in close contact with to the United States. He was toppled by militants in 1979. Later that year, marchers went to the American Embassy, took diplomats hostage and declared that they had unmasked a ‘nest of spies’ who had been manipulating Iran for decades.”

"The New York Times Special Report: The CIA in Iran" is organized in several pages according to the topic. It’s worth the time it takes to read it.