7. Much was earlier related in Bergman's "Secret War with Iran"
Raymond in DC , |
Washington, USA |
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(02.07.14) |
Much of what's told here would be familiar to readers of "The Secret War With Iran" by Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, published a few years ago.
Bergman tells a number of interesting stories, including the attempt to get four fallow deer to Israel, which succeeded, and to rescue the Royal tigers, which failed because the mobs killed them.
If Israeli intelligence already suspected in 1975 the Shah's days were coming to an end, it's lucky I travelled there in 1976. Spending time with a Jewish family in Teheran around Sukkoth, and touring Esfahan and Shiraz, I got no sense of the disaster that would come years later. I did get to visit the Israeli diplomatic mission that was eventually turned over to the PLO.
These cables confirm what was clear even then - that the Shah, though a "dictator", was an enlightened one, pushing reforms a decade before the oil boom, and Khomeini was a religious fanatic.
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