WHAT IF THE U.S. HAD NEVER TOPPLED MOSSADEGH DOWN?

I know there are tons of other factors this notion can not take into account and there are also all those unpredictable events that may have popped up here and there (hey, one crazy man with a single bullet can alter the course) but this is perhaps the most likely scenario:

- Iran would have practiced and learned democracy over the past 50 years, starting with the nationalist government of Dr. Mossadegh and declaring a Republic, then going through various other types of governments and seeing some of the diverse beliefs in assorted posts and governments and eventually becoming that example of freedom in middle-east that others now try to import there by force. No political oppression, prisoners of conscience, torture, Shah's secret police (SAVAK) or IRI's myriad of security outfits and mass executions.

- With all ideologies and political parties present and active, the clergy would have never been able to ride the wave of a popular movement to power, there would have been no revolution in 1979 and the "Islamic Republic" (which in my opinion is neither Islamic or a Republic) would not have existed. There would have been no oil embargo, no hostage crisis, no October surprise Reagan can exploit to win and then obviously no Bush Sr., or Bush Jr.

- USSR would not have feared the "Green Belt" tighten around it's southern borders and would not have invaded Afghanistan. This of course would've meant no help to a "resistance" faction by the U.S., translation: No Afghani Mojahideen, No Taliban, No Al-Qaeda, No Usama (proper spelling), no 9/11, no war on terror and no invasion of Afghanistan.

- Saddam would not have started the Iran-Iraq war and as such there would have been no backing of him by the west, no providing him with biological weapons and other support, no expansion of his army, no bombing of Iranian cities or chemical attacks against its soldiers, no invasion of Kuwait, no desert storm, no massacre of the kyrds, no illegal invasion of Iraq.

Add to this the fact that Iran being the most politically influential country in the region becoming a full fledge democracy would have undoubtedly serve as a model for many of the people of the neighborhood (Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, etc.) to get rid of their dictators and build democracies of their own, bringing peace and stability to a volatile region and prospering culturally and economically as a result.

But no, the Central Intelligence Agency took the order to finance, plan and execute a coup to bring down the government of Mossadegh and re-instate the Shah. Now 50 years later, we still need to justify why we are obsessed about what happened 50 years ago and how such an evil act has changed our lives in most negative way.

Do we forgive? Probably. I am sure once we are convinced our past enemies have changed their ways and now have nothing but good intentions at heart (something we haven't obviously seen yet), we can surely forgive their past indiscretions. Do we forget? Doubt it.

PS : Almost forgot: No Farah Diba or her son Reza Pahlavi, or maybe Reza Pahlavi actually holding a job and working for a living like the rest of us mortals.