Part 3 ---While the Iranian people were experiencing a terrible period of suppression, imprisonment and torture, the Shah, America's unconditionally, enjoyed unconditional American support in implementing his domestic policies of repression. Documents seized from the American Embassy in Tehran after the revolution revealed that the policies of the Shah, almost in most internal and foreign affairs, were determined, especially since 1960's, by the American Administration, while the critics of these policies were faced from death to, at least, the deprivation of all social rights by the SAVAK which was one the most terrible intelligence services in the world.

Taken to its logical conclusion, the outcome of neglecting the people's right of sovereignty is the expansion of corruption on the one hand and the resulting economic crises on the other. The extensive domestic rebellions in 1977-8 were signs of this. The Shah suppressed these rebellions with full American corroboration. Once the Shah lost both his practical control and his spirit, as a result of the peoples' resistance, General Robert Huyser was sent to Iran in January 1979 to take control of the Iranian Army. Regardless of any right the people held of national sovereignty, Huyser's mission was to employ the army in breaking the nationwide strikes in customs, banking and the oil industry and bringing these sectors together with the water and power facilities, as well as press, under the control of prime minister Shahpour Bakhtiar. Huyser also was under orders to resort to a coup d'etat if all else failed.

But the wave of the revolution was now well out of control and was speeding towards victory, with the support of the majority of Iranian people. The U.S., faced with a new reality, submitted to recognize the Islamic Republic of Iran. But once again she violated the Iranian people's right of sovereignty, some of the most important instances being: the Tabas military invasion; implicit encouragement of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq to invade Iran, while offering Iraq financial and military aid throughout the war, despite the U.S. declaration of neutrality; prevention of establishment of friendly relations and economic and technological cooperation between Iran and other countries; exerting economic pressure to influence Iran's decision making in its national economy.

President Bill Clinton followed presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush's policies in destroying the national might of both Iran and Iraq under the new term of dual containment'. He put pressure on Japan and European countries to isolate Iran both politically and economically. The U.S. has done its utmost to prevent Iran from having a role in the trade of Central Asian countries and of the Caucasus, and to prevent the transit of their oil and gas through Iran which is the natural and most economically feasible route connecting those countries to the outside world.

The U.S. government has passed legislation punishing foreign companies investing more than $40 million a year in Iranian gas and oil projects. It has allocated $20 million a year for subverting the Islamic Republic of Iran, an obvious violation of the Iranian peoples' right of sovereignty, and President Clinton has also negotiated and dined with members of a terrorist group, the MKO, aiming to overthrow the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The implementation of these policies has built a high wall of mistrust between the people of Iran and the U.S. administration.

Up to now, in spite of some recent goodwill statements, the strongest feeling is that the U.S. government still continues exerting pressure on Iran in order to submit the Iranian people to American wishes. My assessment is that even if the Iranian politicians are forced to accept certain conditions under political, economic and military pressure, the Iranian people cannot be coerced to follow.

I do not think normal relations with Iran can be redeemed without finding ways to care the deep injuries she has suffered. I believe that it would be highly unlikely to establish a meaningful dialog on Iran-America relations without observing some basic minimums of international relations, among them being: a- Mutual respect and acceptance in practice of the principle of equality b- acceptance of past faults c- Practical measures for compensation of some damages d- Showing goodwill by preparing the grounds for a comprehensive dialog under condition of equality e- Creating necessary conditions to prevent the exertion of pressure on the other side to give undue concessions.

(Concluded)