Hossein Fardoust

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General Hossein Fardoust (1917 - May 18, 1987) was a [1] childhood friend of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and served for ten years as deputy of SAVAK, running day-to-day affairs of that security and intelligence bureau, and for 20 years headed the Special Intelligence Bureau of Iran - sometimes described as a sort of "SAVAK within SAVAK".[2]

Immediately after the 1979 Revolution that overthrew the monarchy, it was rumoured Fardoust had "defected to the other side, handing over crucial files, and transformed SAVAK into SAVAMA" (Sazman-e Ettela'at va Amniat-e Melli-e Iran), the new secret security organization of the Islamic Republic[3][4] later renamed the Ministry of Intelligence.

In April 1987, Fardoust appeared in public for the first time in a television "interview" with Islamic authorities. He described and denounced the life of the Shah, his court, and the corruption and dependency of the government he had served in. In the interview he claimed 10,000 full-time investigators were needed by the Special Intelligence Bureau just to keep track of the money-grabbers and plunderers in the Shah's elite. `There was no way of keeping track of lesser crooks`. The marriage and then the divorce of the Shah to Princess Fawzieh of Egypt was arranged by the British.[5] According to Ervand Abrahamian, the television interview, as with all other television interviews of prisoners in the Islamic Republic, should be taken with a grain of salt.[6]

Three weeks after the interview appeared, the government announced that Fardoust had died from `old age and other natural causes.` [7]

Three years after his death a newspaper run by the government, Kayhan-e Hava'i, ran a series of articles in both Persian and English of what were purported to be Fardoust's more detailed memoirs.[6] The book, entitled Khaterat-e Arteshbod-e Baznesheshteh Hossein Fardoust (The Memoirs of Retired General Hossein Fardoust), expanded on the themes of corruption and conspiracy in the Shah's court and government. The book alleges that foreign imperial powers, especially Britain, dominated Iran and nourished the Freemasons the Bahá'ís and the Jews. — which the book claims most Iranian politicians belonged to the Freemasons and that the Jews, controlled "not only Israel but also the United States." Another surprising fact Fardoust — or the book credited to him — claimed to reveal was that celebrated nationalist Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq was not a mortal enemy of the British, but had "always favored" them, and his campaign to nationalize the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Company had been inspired by `the British themselves.` [8]

[edit] Sources

  • Abrahamian, Ervand, Tortured Confessions, (University of California Press, 1999),

[edit] References

  1. ^ stanford.edu Character as Destiny
  2. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand, Tortured Confessions, (University of California Press, 1999), p.159
  3. ^ If the Ayatollah Khomeini was an enemy of the United States ruling elite, why did he adopt the CIA's security service? Historical and Investigative Research - 23 Feb 2006
  4. ^ "Khomeini Is Reported to Have a SAVAK of His Own"; The Washington Post, June 7, 1980, ; A1, By Michael Getler
  5. ^ Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions, (1999), p.159-60
  6. ^ a b Abrahamian, Ervand (1993). Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0520085035. 
  7. ^ Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions, (1999), p.159
  8. ^ Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions, (1999), p.160-1

[edit] See also

SAVAK