Sem2.HW4

"How does the CIA's activities in Iran show that the US behaves undemocratically in its foreign policy?"

The CIA’s use of bribery and corruption in the 1950s is an example of the US behaving undemocratically in its foreign policy. Instead of respecting the Iranians’ support for Mossadeq, the CIA buys off influential Iranian officials, religious leaders, and local gangs to undermine Mossadeq’s support and his power.

In Eisenhower's "The Chance for Peace" speech, he states that "any nation's attempt to dictate to other nations their form of government is indefensible." But in 1953, the CIA overthrows Mossadeq, the popular prime minister, reinstating the Iranian monarch. This shows the US's undemocratic behavior in its foreign policy.

SAVAK, an Iranian secret police trained and equipped by the CIA, is an example of the US's undemocratic behavior in its foreign policy. SAVAK consolidated and enforced the shah's rule. Instead of replacing Mossadeq with a democracy, the US had brought a dictator, an undemocratic demonstration during the Cold War.