* We saved a recording of Churchill’s broadcast on yesterday’s thread . It’s worth a listen. Go to reply #18.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/aug41/f25aug41.htm
Iran invaded by British and Soviets
Monday, August 25, 1941 www.onwar.com
In Iran... British and Soviet forces invade. They have been worried by reports of German “tourists” being in the country and have decided to demand that Iran accept their “protection” of its oil supplies. The British land forces are led by General Quinan and their naval support by Admiral Arbuthnot. The advance in two areas, to seize the oil installations near Abadan, and from the northeast of Baghdad to take similar sites around Kermanshah. The Soviet forces advance in three columns under General Novikov’s command. One column moves on Tabriz while the other two advance on either side of the Caspian Sea. There are also British landings at Bandar Shapur, Abadan and Khoramshahr in the Persian Gulf area. Two small Iranian warships are sunk and several Axis merchant ships are seized. The British forces moving on Kermanshah, commanded by General Slim, and all three Soviet columns soon make good progress. The Soviets bomb Tabriz. There is little Iranian opposition to either the British or the Soviet forces.
Here is a small flavor of Coleman's take on those events:
"American people did not see any need for war, in spite of the massive propaganda blasts emanating for the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations, which had been conducting a very successful propaganda war against Germany, one that made Herr Goebbels of the German Ministry of Information, look like a rank amateur.
Not even Churchill’s pompous statements, always given the widest possible coverage by the American press, made a dent in American opinion which was running strongly against participation in a war in Europe."Roosevelt was relying on the “Colonel House formula” to help him devise a “carefully sprung trick” to overcome public and private resistance to war.
Had those patriots who tried hard to warn Marshall, Roosevelt, Hull and Stimson of Japan’s plans to attack Pearl Harbor been heeded, there would of course have been no “carefully sprung trick.”
For instance; FBI director J. Edgar Hoover went to see Roosevelt at the White House in August 1941 to deliver a warning about Japanese plans.
He explained that his information had come from a double agent for Britain and Germany.
The agent, Dusko Popov told Hoover that in July 1941 he was ordered to Pearl Harbor.
His assignment was to make a precise study of military and naval installations there, particularly the harbor and airfields.
As well as reporting to British Naval Intelligence, he also informed Hoover."There was no doubt about the authenticity of Popov’s information.
But instead of expressing gratitude, Roosevelt ordered Hoover not to talk about or convey the information to anyone else, as he, Roosevelt, had the matter, “well in hand.”"This is a perfect example of Roosevelt’s treachery and treason and betrayal of the United States, because Roosevelt kept this vital information from the Congress.
Justification for America to go to war had to be contrived!"Coleman, John (2010). Pearl Harbor and Beyond: An Account of Treachery and Treason