The AI dooooooom thread

[Sheilbh]

I don't think the intelligence agencies have ever declassified the details so fully expect they were more involved than they'd like to admit even now. But given the time and context I'd be astonished if they could afford to do much - so I'd guess it was about convincing the American incipient communism and getting them to pay (common British strategy in areas it could no longer afford to be the dominant/imperial power in: Greece, Middle East etc).

I also think there were absolutely domestic forces at play (there always are) trying to shape and use events in their own way - especially I suspect in elite circles.

[The Minsky Moment]

A conspiracy theory?

?
No conspiracy I'm aware of.

The story arose because Kermit Roosevelt vastly overstated his own role and importance and that of the CIA station in his novelistic account of the coup, Countercoup.  Roosevelt's book was widely accepted by the public as a serious account and was also taken as straight by many Iranians who were all too happy to point fingers at the CIA.  The CIA had tossed a few dollars around but mostly in their customary half-assed and clueless sort of way.

My knowledge comes from reading the sources back in the early 90s when I studied this in college (I wrote my senior essay in modern Iranian history). Roy Takeyh has written about this quite a bit in more recent years.

[crazy canuck]

A conspiracy theory?

?
No conspiracy I'm aware of.

The story arose because Kermit Roosevelt vastly overstated his own role and importance and that of the CIA station in his novelistic account of the coup, Countercoup.  Roosevelt's book was widely accepted by the public as a serious account and was also taken as straight by many Iranians who were all too happy to point fingers at the CIA.  The CIA had tossed a few dollars around but mostly in their customary half-assed and clueless sort of way.

My knowledge comes from reading the sources back in the early 90s when I studied this in college (I wrote my senior essay in modern Iranian history). Roy Takeyh has written about this quite a bit in more recent years.

There has been more information released since you were a senior in undergrad.

Take another look