YP#108, thoughtful, introduces a Nirvana prospect, which I agree.
How lucky we are to have on this forum the only fellow that knows why the1979 insurrection succeeded where others had failed. The Revolutionary Narrative rests on Elites' corruption, overthrown by the Faithful. But...no.
The Pahlavi regime was corrupt by the standards of our Western words (if not always deeds), but they were also trying to prepare for a post-oil world to employ 39Mn. people (since doubled). On a Defence base, the intent was to be the Workshop for the Middle East by building the skills base to maintain the best kit. I was involved (modestly) in their Aircraft Industry, '77-78, leaving weeks before the Shah. If I tried to claim foresight, you would rightly laugh. I heard the explosion in a Tehran cinema; I heard machine gun bursts on street corners. I, and more, shrugged, and knew SAVAK (the Secret Police) would, again, sort it. So, why didn't they?
The Main Railway Station at the foot of Tehran's mountain seethed daily with new jobseekers, milling around, broke, depressed. They saw private buses taking workers from Doshan Tappeh Ministry of War components Workshop up from steamy, dusty heat home to aircon comfort. They were ex-USAF maintenance technicians experienced on F-4, F-5, C-130 matching IIAF's fleet: US citizens and SE.Asia Nationals (Taiwan, Thai, Filipino, so mostly non-Muslim), who had supported PACAF/SVAF. All were also to train Iranis for the ME Workshop Policy.
They were visibly swigging their Buds on the bus onway to their large, cool apartments with their idle women. What kind of women could USAF techies acquire in Bangkok, Manila?
Mehrabad,Tehran Airport, was where many more expat technicians worked on aircraft, engines, and where the Elite had their bizjets and 707s, guarded by Elite Forces of the Shah. Doshan Tappeh was guarded by conscripts. The mob surged up to them and said: Are you, brother, with the Infidel, or with us the Faithful and dutiful?
When it was known in Mehrabad that they had let the mob in, the Generals tried to flee. End of...
So, if an Officer had kept discipline at D-Tappeh, SAVAK then to do what came naturally, the Shah then spreading the oil money more widely...Zen#107, YP #108 are so, plus, plus. None of Afghan, Iraq, Terror. Nirvana.
