How FDR planned to outflank the British

[Guest guest]

How FDR planned to

outflank the British

by Edward Spannaus

 

Surprising as it may seem today, at the end of the Second World War,

both Afghanistan and Iran looked to the United States as their hope

for economic development, and for protection from the imperialist

designs of Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Both Afghanistan and

Iran had long been pawns in the "Great Game" between Britain and

Russia, and both saw in the principles of Franklin D. Roosevelt's

Atlantic Charter, the possibility of fulfilling their aspirations

for freedom from foreign domination and exploitation.

 

The transformation of the image of the United States, from the

protector of exploited nations, to the "Great Satan" and sworn enemy

of pan-Islamic fanatics, is a case study in British methods of

manipulation and control.

 

The favorable image of the United States held in the eyes of the

leaders of both Iran and Afghanistan was largely due to the

deployment of President Roosevelt's personal representative, Gen.

Patrick J. Hurley, to that region in 1943-44. When Hurley arrived in

Iran in 1943, he found a country occupied jointly by the British and

the Soviets, a country which feared it would be permanently

partitioned by the two occupying powers after the war. Hurley

proposed that Iran protect its future by joining the Allies and

declaring war on Germany and the Axis powers—a proposal which was

violently opposed by the British and Russian allies!

 

At FDR's instruction, and over efforts by the Anglophilic U.S. State

Department to sabotage his efforts, Hurley drafted the "Declaration

Regarding Iran" during the Teheran Conference in late 1943. The

declaration guaranteed the independence, sovereignty, and

territorial integrity of Iran, and promised assistance in dealing

with the postwar economic situation. Over Averell Harriman's

objections, Roosevelt managed to get the document signed by Stalin

and Churchill.

 

Roosevelt's vision was to make Iran a "pilot project," which would

show the world the benefits of applying American "twentieth-century"

methods to the task of global development. He assigned Hurley to

develop a plan for the postwar economic development of Iran, which

involved freeing Iran from internal and foreign exploitation, so

that it could use its considerable natural resources for its own

benefit. FDR also asked Hurley to compile a list of American

industrialists and experts who could be trusted to carry out the

project. Hurley's report to Roosevelt included the following

provisions:

 

"Inauguration in Iran of the American pattern of self-government and

free enterprise will be an assurance that [the] proceeds from

development of Iranian resources will be directed substantially to

the building of schools, hospitals, sanitary systems, irrigation

systems, and improvement of all facilities contributing to the

health, happiness and general welfare of the Iranian people.

 

"This plan of nation building may be improved through our experience

in Iran and may become the criterion for the relations of the United

States toward all nations which are now suffering from the evils of

greedy minorities, monopolies, aggression, and imperialism."

 

President Roosevelt was enthusiastic about the Iran Plan, and

forwarded it to the State Department, commenting: "I was rather

thrilled by the idea of using Iran as an example of what we could do

by an unselfish American policy."

 

Intervention in Afghanistan

Afghanistan was Hurley's next stop. He flew to Peshawar in Pakistan,

only 150 miles from the capital of Afghanistan. As Hurley's

biographer Don Lohbeck tells the story:

 

"In Peshawar, a series of British-inspired obstacles arose to hinder

completion of the flight to Kabul. First the plane in which he was

to fly over the mountains to the Afghan capital was declared to be

of a type that could not possibly land on the Kabul air strip;

second, the officials of the British airfield 'lost' the key to the

gasoline pump and could not furnish gas for the flight; third, local

weather reports from Kabul were withheld from the Americans so that

when on January 4, they finally took off—they had to turn back when

within only twenty miles of the Afghan city, because weather

conditions were so bad they could not land. Trying again the next

day, the Americans had to turn back because of engine trouble that

developed while in flight.

 

"Finally, in disgust, General Hurley and his party left Peshawar by

car, driving through the Khyber Pass."

 

Hurley's trip was a marked success. The U.S. military attaché wrote

that Afghanistan, which had been left out of the Teheran Conference,

was eager for some notice from the United States, and that the

Afghan leaders now looked to Washington as the arbiter of their

relations with Britain and Russia.

 

Hurley himself reported to Roosevelt that "since leaving Afghanistan

I have confirmed the impression that neither Russia nor Britain has

the confidence of the Afghanistan Government.... The fact that the

United States Government has no imperialistic designs may be

regarded as the chief reason why it is trusted by Afghanistan and

all nations of the Middle East. The king of Afghanistan is also

familiar with the principles expressed by you. He expressed himself

as in complete accord and anxious to follow your leadership. The

king was delighted by the Iran Declaration. He said it gave all

nations of the Middle East and Central Asia confidence in their own

future. Throughout the Middle East you are credited with having

obtained the Iran Declaration from Britain and Russia."

 

The FDR-Hurley plan for Iran was violently attacked by the State

Department, whose "expert" on Iran, Eugene Rostow, dismissed it

as "hysterial messianic global-baloney." Hurley angrily denounced

the opponents of the plan as "stuffed-shirt diplomats in the State

Department who were kow-towing to the British."

 

But with Roosevelt's death in 1945, and the accession of Harry

Truman to the White House, the British agents-of-influence in the

State Department had their way, and Roosevelt's postwar plans for

the Middle East and Central Asia were scuttled.

 

American aid for Afghanistan, which was looking to the United States

for investment and assistance, never materialized. The United States

did manage to maintain more of a role in Iran, and in the early

1950s even assisted Iran's efforts to wrest control of its oil from

Britain. Contrary to historical myth, the United States supported

the Mossadeq government's nationalization of Iran's oil resources.

But with the advent of the Eisenhower administration, U.S. policy in

Iran was quickly aligned with that of Britain, and U.S. agents

played a secondary, supporting role in the British-run coup against

Mossadeq. It was only later that the CIA took credit for

overthrowing Mossadeq—a stupid and false claim, which contributed

greatly to British efforts to transform the United States into

the "enemy image" in the Middle East.

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