From: mattfaunce@gmail.com   
      
   Resurrecting Empire, by Rashid Khalidi, excerpt.   
      
   The excerpt is between the o~~o lines. My continuation, with liberal quotes   
   from Khalidi, follows the bottom o~~o line.   
   o~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~o   
   [pg. 10:]   
   Long before the United States suddenly became a power in the Middle East   
   during World War I, only to virtually disappear and then return during   
   World War II, the peoples of that region had already had lengthy   
   experiences with the West. These experiences had both positive and negative   
   aspects, and the resulting associations would later on attach to the   
   American newcomers to the region. The positive aspects were associated with   
   Western scientific, technical, educational, and cultural advances, military   
   and governmental efficiency, and liberal values, all of which came to be   
   appreciated by increasing numbers of people in the Middle East,   
   particularly intellectuals, the educated, and the growing middle and urban   
   working classes. The desire to emulate and reproduce these values gradually   
   spread in these sectors of Middle Eastern society. On the other hand, the   
   negative aspects affected nearly the entirety of society. They related   
   primarily to the gradual domination and subjugation of the region, and   
   ultimately the occupation of most of the countries of the Middle East, by   
   the European powers. This lengthy and painful process left deep and lasting   
   scars, and naturally affected the reception of Western values among Arabs,   
   Turks, Iranians, and Middle Easterners.   
      
   [pg. 11:]   
   [...] ,others in society rejected some or all Western values. They saw the   
   only hope for improving the situation in a return to what they believed   
   were Islam's original values, which they argued had once made their   
   ancestors powerful and feared.   
      
   [pg. 14:]   
   What Western observers often failed to notice in their fixation on Middle   
   Eastern conservatism and reaction were the assets that these societies   
   already possessed in terms of a deep respect for learning that was integral   
   to Islam, and a willingness to experiment and to change.   
   o~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~o   
      
   How Britain and the company now known as BP, British Petroleum, came to   
   occupy territories and manipulate Iran: (quotes are from Khalidi)   
      
   Britain was meddling in Iranian affairs long before the importance of oil,   
   but then... In 1901 the British "obtained from the Iranian government a   
   sixty-year concession that gave [them] the 'exclusive privilege to search   
   for, obtain, exploit, develop, render suitable for trade, carry away and   
   sell' Iranian petroleum products." It was a deal "granted by an   
   unrepresentative, unconstitutional government acting under foreign   
   pressure." Oil production out of Iran began in 1908 and "The following   
   year, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was formed in London to exploit the new   
   concession […]” Britain then designed its new fleet of navy battleships to   
   run on oil, which Britain had none of, changing from coal which Britain had   
   plenty of. British Navy was now dependent on foreign oil. "Security of   
   supply meant that two things were necessary. [...] control over the   
   southern coastal regions of Iran where the [APOC] was already producing."   
   and "ensuring permanent British control of the company that produced the   
   oil. The company could not be allowed to fall into foreign hands, any more   
   than the region where the oil was located," So the British government   
   bought a 51% stake in the company. The company grew and along with the   
   British troops guarding the complex, "the company was a towering   
   state-within-a-state in the southern part of the country."   
      
   "There were big strikes and demonstrations against the company in 1946, and   
   demands in the newly empowered Iranian Parliament [...] By 1949, mass   
   student protests in Teheran against the AIOC [Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.]   
   concessions were commonplace. [...] In April 1951 Parliament passed a bill   
   nationalizing the industry [...] [The] British company arrogantly demanding   
   compensation not only for its physical assets but for future profits on   
   probable underground reserves, something that was unacceptable to the   
   Iranians." The AIOC responded by increased production in Iraq and Kuwait,   
   and got the major western oil companies to boycott the Iranian nationalized   
   company. "In support of the actions of the AIOC, the governments of Britain   
   and the United States resolutely opposed the nationalization" (Britain   
   itself had recently nationalized "a wide range of companies in Britain by   
   the Labour government"), "began to concert their diplomatic and covert   
   activities in Iran, and started encouraging the opposition to [Iranian   
   leadership.] Finally, in August 1953, the Iranian military, which had been   
   advised by American officers since World War II, carried out a coup   
   inspired and organized by the British MI6 and CIA. The resulting   
   reimposition of the shah's absolute power at the expense of the powers of   
   the elected Parliament thus represented yet another example of the old,   
   cavalier contempt shown by democratic Western powers for constitutionalism   
   and democracy in the Middle East when they perceived their interests were   
   threatened." Now, "the American oil giants obtained a 40% share (in effect   
   compensation for American participation in the overthrow of Iranian   
   democracy) [...] The AIOC, now renamed British Petroleum (BP), got the   
   rest, [...]"   
      
   --   
   Matt   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)