Michael Ledeen rewrites history

As I'm writing, Terry Gross is exposing Neocon Freeper Michael Ledeen* (link to listen) as a liar.He said, twice now, during this program explaining his advocacy of regime change in Iran, that the US has never tried to undermine the government of Iran.
Pretty stupid assertion for a history professor.
I suggest he Google just about any word of this article I quickly Wikipedia'd with the word Iran:
"The decline of the Safavid state in the 17th century increasingly turned Persia into an arena for rising rival colonial powers such as Imperial Russia and the British Empire that wielded great political influence in Tehran under the Qajarid dynasty. Iran however, managed to maintain its sovereignty and was never colonized, making it unique in the region. With the rise of modernization in the late 19th century, desire for change led to the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1911. In 1921, Reza Shah Pahlavi staged a coup against the weakened Qajar dynasty. A supporter of modernization, Reza Shah initiated the development of modern industry, railroads, and establishment of a national education system, but his autocratic rule and unbalanced social reforms created discontent among many Iranians.

During World War II, Britain and the USSR invaded Iran from August 25 to September 17, 1941, to stop an Axis-supported coup and secure Iran's petroleum infrastructure. The Allies of World War II forced the shah to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whom they hoped would be more supportive. In 1951, an eccentric pro-democratic nationalist, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh rose to prominence in Iran and was elected its first Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, Mossadegh alarmed the West by his nationalization of Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later renamed BP), which controlled all of the country's oil reserves. Britain immediately put an embargo on Iran. Members of the British Intelligence Service approached the United States under President Eisenhower in 1953 to join them in Operation Ajax, a coup against Mossadegh. President Eisenhower agreed, and authorized the CIA to assist the BIS in overthrowing Mossadegh. The Shah at first attempted to formally dismiss Mossadegh, but this backfired and Mossadegh convinced the Shah to flee to Baghdad.

Regardless of this setback, the covert operation soon went into full swing, conducted from US Embassy in Tehran under the leadership of Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.. Agents were hired to facilitate violence; and, as a result, protests broke out across the nation. Anti- and pro-monarchy protestors violently clashed in the streets, leaving almost 300 dead. The operation was successful in triggering a coup, and within days, pro-Shah tanks stormed the capital and bombarded the Prime Minister's residence. Mossadegh surrendered, and was arrested on August 19, 1953. He was tried for treason, and sentenced to three years in prison.

Mohammad Reza Shah was the second monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty, and the last Shah of the Iranian monarchy.Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was then reinstated as Shah. His rule became increasingly autocratic in the following years and soon Iran became a model police state. With strong support from the US and UK, the Shah further modernized Iranian industry, but simultaneously crushed all forms of political opposition with his intelligence agency, SAVAK. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became an active critic of the Shah's reign and publicly denounced the government. Khomeini, who was popular in Iran as a religious leader, was arrested and imprisoned for 18 months. After his release in 1964, Khomeini publicly criticized the United States government. Instead of executing of Khomeini, the Shah was persuaded to send him into exile by General Hassan Pakravan. Khomeini was sent first to Turkey and then to Iraq. While in exile, he continued to denounce the Shah and gained more popularity among Iranians.

Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh Founder of Iran's first democratic governmentBy the late 1970s, it became apparent that the Shah was losing his hold over the country. In 1978, when protests against his rule grew louder, the shah instituted martial law. Despite this period, on September 8, mass but peaceful protests around the country were held. This came to an abrupt end when the Shah sent in the military to suppress the demonstrations. As a result, several hundred protesters died in what many Iranians today call Black Friday, an event that quashed most support for the Shah in the country.

1979 saw an increase in protests against both the Shah and citizens of the United States, culminating in the Iranian Revolution. The Shah fled the country again, after which Khomeini triumphantly returned from exile in France on February 1, 1979 and eventually succeeded in taking power. On February 11, Khomeini declared a provisional government and on March 30 to March 31, asked all Iranians sixteen years of age and older, male and female, to vote in a referendum on the question of establishing an Islamic republic in Iran. Over 98% voted in favour of replacing the monarchy with the newly-proposed form of government. Khomeini's new Islamic state instated conservative Islamic laws and unprecedented levels of direct clerical rule.

Iran's relations with the United States were severely strained after the revolution, especiallly when Iranian students seized US embassy personnel on November 4, 1979, labeling the embassy a "Den of Spies" and accused its personnel of being CIA agents trying to overthrow the revolutionary government. Khomeini did not stop the students from holding embassy employees hostage and instead encouraged the kidnapping, a move which only increased his popularity. Women, African Americans and one diagnosed with multiple sclerosis were soon released. Despite attempts made by the administration of US President Jimmy Carter at negotiation and rescuing the remaining hostages through such methods as Operation Eagle Claw, Iran refused to release them and threatened to put the hostages on trial for espionage. The students demanded the handover of the shah in exchange for the hostages. However, this exchange never took place, and after 444 days of captivity, embassy employess were finally allowed to leave Iran and return to the United States.

Meanwhile, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein decided to take advantage of what he perceived to be disorder in the wake of the Iranian Revolution and its unpopularity with Western governments. Of particular interest was that the once-strong Iranian military had been disbanded during the revolution. With the Shah out of power, Hussein had far-reaching ambitions to assert himself as the new strong man of the Middle East and planned a full-scale invasion of Iran, boasting that his forces could reach the capital within three days. The Iraqi army's assault took the country completely by surprise and the destructive Iran-Iraq War called "Saddām's al-Qādisiyyah" in Iraq, and the "Imposed war" in Iran had begun.

Tens of thousands of Iranian civilians and military personnel were killed when Iraq used chemical weapons in its warfare. Iraq was financially backed by Egypt, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, the United States (beginning in 1983), France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the People's Republic of China (which also sold weapons to Iran), the Soviet Union, and the Warsaw Pact states. All of these countries provided intelligence, chemicals for biological weapons as well as other forms of military assistance to the Iraqis. Iran's principal allies during the war were Syria, Libya, and North Korea.

Although Saddam Hussein's forces made several early advances, the people of Iran began rallying around Khomeini as he urged all Iranians to defend their country and religion against Saddam's secular Ba'athist regime. By 1982, Iranian forces managed to push the Iraqi army back into Iraq. Khomeini refused a cease-fire from Iraq which was demanding huge reparation payments and an end to his rule. Khomeini also sought to export his Islamic revolution westward into Iraq, especially on the majority Shi'a Arabs living in the country. The war then continued for six more years until 1988, when Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations. With the fall of Saddam's regime in Iraq in April 2003 and his capture in December of that year, Iran announced it had sent its own indictment against Saddam to Iraq's government, with the list of complaints including the use of chemical weapons. The total Iranian casualties of the war were estimated to be anywhere between 500,000 to 1,000,000. Although Iran itself also possessed chemical weapons, it never used them during the war.

In contemporary Iranian politics, it is believed that internal political factions are divided between conservatives who call for keeping the original ideology of revolution and reformists who want to review the old ideologies with respect to today's world. Iranian establishment's greatest pride is a claim of complete Independence. The struggle between reformists and conservatives continues today through electoral politics, and was a central focus in the Iranian presidential election of 2005, which resulted in the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Since then, there has been an increase in tensions between Iran and the US. However, given the opacity of Iranian politics, these assertions involve at least as much speculation as they do analysis.

Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and as such has the legal right to use and research nuclear energy for peaceful purposes [10]. On numerous occasions, the Bush administration has threatened Iran with economic sanctions — and has not ruled out the use of military force — if Iran refuses to halt uranium enrichment.[11][12] Britain supports this position, while other members of UN Security Council, in particular Russia and China, oppose any military action or sanctions. Significantly, Iran was recently elected vice-chair on the UN Disarmament Commission. Recently, Iran announced it is researching the construction of a P2 centrifuge, which is a more efficient technology to enrich uranium.[13] Despite the U.S and Iran being at odds with each other, both countries have sent allowed scholars and scientists to visit each other. However, the number of Iranian students who have come to the United States to study is only a small percentage of the number that came to study prior to the Islamic revolution when the largest number of international students in the United States came from Iran"

*Who is your shadow government?
Michael Ledeen:
American Enterprise Institute: Freedom Scholar
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs: Member, Board of Advisers
Coalition for Democracy in Iran: Co-founder
American Spectator, Wall Street Journal: Regular contributor
The New Republic: Rome Correspondent (1975-1977)
Washington Quarterly: Founding Editor
National Review Online: Contributing Editor
U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon: Golden Circle Supporter
Benador Associates: Speakers bureau
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): Senior Fellow (1982-86)/Senior Staff Member (1977-1981)
University of Rome, Italy: Visiting Professor of History (1975-1977)
Washington University: Instructor and Assistant Professor of History (1967-1974)
American Committee for Peace in Chechnya: Member

Government Service
U.S.-China Commission: Commissioner (2001-2003)
Department of State: Consultant, Under Secretary of Political Affairs (1982-86)
Department of Defense: Consultant, Office of the Secretary (1982-86)
White House: Consultant, National Security Adviser to the President (1982-86)
Department of State: Special Adviser to the Secretary (1981-82)