A Timeline History of US Involvement in the Middle East

The Mainstream (State-controlled) Media has been selling the idea that Muslims of the Middle East hate America (and the West) because of their freedom.  It's time to look at some of the US and British actions in the region over the past 100+ years to understand what the conflict is truly about.  

This timeline is by no means complete and is a work in progress.  Hopefully, it will present a little bit about the other side that they aren't telling you.  

1912:  The Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) is formed, with the intention of monopolizing all the oil exploration in Mesopotamia (now Syria & Iraq).  The company was mostly owned by Deutsche Bank, and Anglo Saxon Oil Company/Royal Dutch Shell.

1920:  The San Remo Conference is convened to divide up the lands that once comprised the Ottoman Empire as spoils of WWI.  Syria is claimed by France, Palestine and Mesopotamia are claimed by the United Kingdom as protectorate colonies or mandatories.  Other minor territories in the region in and out of the old Ottoman boundary are divied up as well.    

1927:  Two years after receiving permission to explore Mesopotamia, TPC discovers oil,  In order to receive permission to explore the land, they promised that the Iraqi government would get a percentage of the profits after the first 20 years.

1928:  The United States pressures Britain into signing a "Red Line Agreement" stating that no single power will be allowed to develop or produce the oil from the region.  This created an oil cartel in the region which was bounded by the old borders of the Ottoman Empire (without Kuwait).

Five American companies form the Near East Development Corporation (NEDC) which is added to the list of shareholders in the TPC.  The NEDC is comprised of Atlantic Richfield Co (ARCO), Gulf Oil (Now Chevron), Pan-American Oil & Transport Co (now ExxonMobil and Amoco), Standard Oil of New York (now ExxonMobil), and Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil).  The NEDC owned 23.75% of the TPC as did the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Royal Dutch Shell, and Compagnie Française des Pétroles.  The remaining 5% was owned by Armenian businessman Calouste Gulbenkian.

1929:  The Turkish Petroleum Company is renamed Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).  The NEDC only has 2 remaining members due to a merger and others dropping out because of conflicts of interest.  

1944:  ARAMCO is formed by renaming of the Saudi subsidiary of Standard Oil of California (Socal)) and Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO).  ARAMCO controls most of the oil production in Saudi Arabia, while the IPC holds a monopoly on the rest of the Red Line territory. 




1949:  The CIA, in concert with the leftist Syrian Social Nationalist Party, backed a military coup d'etat in Syria to oust the duly-elected government and install a government that supported the Trans Arabian Pipeline.  The elected government had blocked the construction of the pipeline.  Once the new government was put in place, construction on the project began immediately.


1953:  The CIA orchestrates an overthrow of the democratically-elected government in Iran in response to the Iranian government's nationalization of the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC; Now British Petroleum).  The government nationalized the company after the AIOC refused to be audited by the Iranian government.  The coup placed the Shah Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi in power as the ruling monarch, thus subverting the Iranian Parliament.

1954:  This year began what Amnesty International called the "highest rate of death penalties in the world, no valid system of civilian courts and a history of torture which is beyond belief. No country in the world has a worse record in human rights than Iran.”  This was due to the United States' funding and training of Iranian military, police, and Savak (Secret Police).  The Shah that was installed by CIA and British operatives is so unpopular that he begins to rule using terrorist tactics in order to stay in power.  

1955:  The United States forced the creation of the Baghdad Pact (later known as Middle East Treaty Organization) using promises of Foreign Aid (economic and military aid).  The United States was not allowed to be an actual party in the agreement, but it would not have happened without their influence and the work of CIA Director John Dulles who was involved in the negotiations.  Later that year, the United States joined the military committee of the alliance - CENTO.  This was not surprising since the parties were all U.S. allies and puppets.

1957-1958:  Annoyed with U.S. and British imperialism in the region, Syria and Egypt begin to unify. The United States responds by sending their Navy's Sixth Fleet to begin delivering weapons to neighboring puppet regimes.  Syrian and Egyptian authorities discover evidence of "at least eight separate conspiracies to overthrow one or the other government, to assassinate Egyptian President Gamal Nasser, and/or prevent the merger of the two countries.  Later on evidence shows that the several of these conspiracies were in-fact attempted and failed.

1958:  Mass rioting erupts in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.  Iraqi troops enter Jordan in an attempt to quell the violence.  Under popular pressure, the army mutinies and kills the Iraqi King, Crown Prince, and Prime Minister.

The following day, the hated, CIA-backed Lebanese president Camille Chamoun invited the US Marines into Lebanon.  Over 14,000 Marines land in Lebanon, while British troops invade Jordan.

1963:  After the United States attempted to assassinate the Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassam, the Ba'ath Party of Iraq initiates a coup with the help of US operatives.  The Ba'ath party begins slaughtering enemies of the CIA, which provided the Ba'ath party with a list of names of people they wanted killed.

1968:  Iraq conducts a counter-coup against the government installed by the U.S. Saddam Hussein was one of the participants.

1973-1975:  U.S. begins to support Iran in order to counter the anti-US Iraqi government.  Henry Kissinger masterminds a plan to arm and support Kurdish rebels against the Iraqi government.  Kissinger lays out a plan to support the Kurds in an effort to establish their own independent country.

CIA and Israeli operatives conduct covert military operations against Iraq.

Kurdish officials/rebels secretly meet with CIA in Washington DC.

Iran and Iraq both agree to close their border and sign a peace agreement in 1975.  The United States is unhappy about this.  They withdraw all support for the Kurds.  200,000 Kurds are deported and approximately 20,000 are murdered - later when Saddam Hussein becomes president, another 180,000 Kurds are murdered.

March 1975: the US outlaws any open contact or communication between American officials and Kurds.  The Iraqi government begins their long genocide campaign against the Kurds, killing thousands using conventional and chemical weapons.

1979:  Mustafa Barzani, former leader of the Kurdish rebels dies in Washington DC.  His final words were used to express his regret over having trusted the United States.

In January, the United States organizes and conducts a coup in an attempt to keep the Shah in power and fails.  

The Shi'a take over Iran led by Ayatollah Khomeini.  The United States publicly supports the Ayatollah's control over the Kurds. 

President Jimmy Carter declares the Persian Gulf to be a vital US interest and that the United States is willing to go to war for the oil in the region. 

USSR moves military forces to northern Iran.  Jimmy Carter secretly puts US forces on nuclear alert and warns the Soviet Union that the US will use nuclear weapons against them if needed. 

In the summer, the United States begins arming and training the fundamentalist Mujahideen radicals in Afghanistan.  Between 1979 and 1989, the United States supplies $3 billion in weapons to the Taliban and Al Qaeda and another $3 billion to their counterparts in Saudi Arabia.  US builds training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Mujahideen (many of which were bombed by the US in 2001).  The US intends to force the USSR into an unwinnable quagmire in Afghanistan.

In October, Jimmy Carter admits the Shah into the United States so that he can receive a life-saving medical operation.  This angers the Shi'a Muslims in power and places all Americans in Iran in danger.  

November 4, Iranian militants seize the US Embassy in Tehran and take hostages, demanding that the Shah be returned to Iran to face trial.  The United States refuses and the hostages are held for 444 days. 

In December, the USSR invades Afghanistan as the US hoped they would.  The US sees USSR as a threat to their oil interests in Iran/Iraq.  US supplies weapons to anyone willing to fight the Soviets (e.g. Mujahideen, Al Qaeda, Taliban).  The US takes Iraq off of their terrorist nation list and supplies Saddam Hussein with advanced weaponry to fight the soviets.  

In 12 years, over 1 million Afghans are killed, 3 million injured, and 5 million end up as refugees.  

1980:  Iraq uses its new weaponry and backing of the United States to invade Iran.  The United States supplies weapons and support to both sides for the duration of the eight year long war.  
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Jimmy Carter begins sending Naval warships to the Persian Gulf.  The US uses their Naval forces to put pressure on both Iran and Iraq with the intention of prolonging the conflict.  

1982:  Using money and weapons from the United States, Israel invades Lebanon killing 20,000 anti-US Lebanese and Palestinians.
In September, the pro-American Lebanese president-elect, Bashir al-Jumayyil, is assassinated.  The following day, Israeli forces, who falsely assumed the Palestinians were behind the assassination, invade Beirut and kill over 1000 men, women, and children.  

1983:  US invades Lebanon in order to protect Israeli occupying forces.  They later withdraw from the area when a suicide bomber blows himself up in the Marine Corps barracks. 

1984:  US shoots down Iranian fighter jets over the Persian Gulf.

1985:  US begins secretly shipping advanced weaponry to Iran at inflated prices, using the profits to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua

Eighty people are killed when a US attempt to assassinate Lebaniese Shi'ite leader Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah fails.

1990:  After accusing Kuwait of stealing their oil and over producing in order to drive oil prices down, Iraq invades Kuwait and within two days defeats them and claims Kuwait as an Iraqi province.  Other cited reasons for the invasion were that Iraq was unable to pay back the debt they owed from their war with Iran (caused by the US).  Low oil prices (for which they blamed Kuwait) at the time were not helping Iraq pay back this debt.  The United States leads a coalition to remove Iraq's occupational forces from Kuwait, but chooses to leave Saddam Hussein in power.

1991:  Inspired by the quick defeat of Saddam Hussein by the United States, Shia Muslims in southern Iraq and Kurdish rebels in the north seize this opportunity to revolt against Saddam's government.  In less than two weeks, 15 of the 18 Iraqi provinces are liberated from Saddam Husseins control.  Just as it appears that the Iraqi people will be free from tyranny, the United States refuses to offer any support to the rebellion.  This inspired Iraqi forces to crush the rebellion.  Finally the United States steps after massive calls for humanitarian support.  As hundreds of thousands of Kurds flee to the north, the US establishes a No-Fly zone in order to offer them some limited protection.

By this time it is abundantly clear to the Kurds, the Iraqi people, and the Shia Muslims throughout the region that the United States wants Saddam Hussein in power.


1995:  Turkey launches an attack against the Kurds in northern Iraq with US support.  

Sources:
The Popular Resistance
wikipedia.org
US Foreign Policy in the Middle East

The Guardian: CIA Admits Role in 1953 Iranian Coup
The Kurds - A Chronology | The Survival of Saddam

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