[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 161 (Friday, November 7, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H10982]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H10982]]


                           DEMOCRACY BUILDING

  (Mr. SNYDER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SNYDER. Mr. Speaker, Stephen Kinzer, in his book, ``All the 
Shah's Men,'' describes the events of the overthrow of the Iranian 
Government in 1953 in a coup staged by the United States and the 
British. President Truman did not support overthrowing the government 
of Prime Minister Mossadeq. In this picture taken in 1951 here in 
Washington, D.C., you can see his relationship with Mossadeq, who he 
respected as a nationalist. However, the Eisenhower government came in, 
President Eisenhower supported the coup, and the government was 
overthrown in 1953.
  I thought of these events on hearing the President's speech yesterday 
calling for the spread of democracy in the Middle East. Stephen Kinzer 
in his interviews with Iranians asked them in the past what they had 
thought of American overtures talking about democracy in Iran, and 
their response was we had a democracy, but you Americans overthrew it.
  We all support democracy and democratic ideals, but when it comes to 
remaking societies, Mr. Speaker, we should approach this with humility, 
realism, and a sense of history.

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