When I was working on Gulf Coast rigs at a time when the Shah was still in power, fellow employees told me of their former supervisor, an Iranian named “Sheikoslami” – phonetic spelling. He was, they told me, very competent and also not afraid to disagree on technical matters with HIS superiors- and also to be later be proven right in those disagreements. (Before getting on the ‘copter one week for days off, he left a prediction on the cafeteria chalkboard about the depth at which the well would blow out. He was proven correct.) Some years later, I was laid off and in grad school. “Sheikoslami” was in one of my classes, and also employed with another company- at a substantial raise in salary.

I wonder if petroleum engineer “Sheikoslami” was related to hostage-taker and diplomat Hussein Sheikholeslam.

Good point. Here is an earlier example of another General breaking with Hugo Chávez. When Chávez campaigned for President in 1998, one of his main talking points was a crackdown on corruption. General Urdaneta made the mistake in 2000, of taking Hugo Chávez at his word. From Rory Carroll’s Comandante: Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela.

With the rain clouds finally dissolved in early 2000, the Ávila, with its new topography, was once again visible from the palace terrace…… His longtime comrade and fellow coup conspirator General Jesús Urdaneta was unhappy. Chávez had appointed his friend, typically blunt and outspoken like people from the western state of Zulia, to head DISIP, the intelligence service. Urdaneta received reports that two of the president’s most important civilian allies, Luis Miquilena, head of the National Assembly, and José Vicente Rangel, the foreign minister, were lining their pockets. Both were veteran political operators who had guided the comandante, a political neophyte, after his release from jail on the hidden strings between state, media, and business interests in the so-called Fourth Republic. Urdaneta complained to Chávez that they were bringing the old, corrupt habits into the fledgling Fifth Republic. According to the general, the president acknowledged the duo’s corruption but said he needed their dark arts to consolidate power. The feud spilled into the Vargas aftermath when security forces were accused of executing looters. Of eight thousand men in the field, only sixty were from DISIP, but Urdaneta found his agency singled out and pilloried—allegedly due to Miquilena and Vicente Rangel pulling their invisible strings. (Years later Miquilena fell out with Chávez and was charged but acquitted of corruption. Vicente Rangel was never charged with any crime.) Chávez barred Urdaneta from speaking to the press. His old friend claimed he had been set up and resigned in protest, the revolution’s first major defection.

BTW, Rory Carroll works for The Guardian. Not all lefty journalists are fact-free ideologues. This is an excellent book.

Neo – Given your expertise on the art of dance – I’m soliciting your comments on Gia Kourlas review in the NYT re: Sean Spicer’s performance on DWTS.

Do you agree with Ms. Kourlas that Spicer’s green shirt was “scary” ?

Do you agree that Spicer exhibited a “cold brutality” ?

Thanks in advance for your assessment.

In 2007 he publically questioned Chavez’s Constitutional Referendum. After that Baduel slowly broke ranks with Chavez as he became uncontrollably megalomaniacal. In 2008, Baduel wrote his own Swan Song in the form of an Editorial that was published in the press. In this editorial he had the temerity to say that it was possible to discuss distribution of wealth, but that before wealth could be distributed it must first be produced.

Shortly after that, he was arrested on corruption charges. He remains in prison (without trial) to this day.

In 1978, an Iranian gave me ride when I was hitching around Houston. He told me about a protest against the Shah. I also suspect that he never returned to Iran.

I did NOT like the SAVAK, nor the Pinochet secret police of Chile. But in Chile I thought the socialists were worse, and suspected that in Iran the alternative would be worse.

The pro-human rights democrats plus the elite socialists plus the communists plus the Ayatollah Islamists were enough, thru protests, to get the Shah gone. Then the commies, socialists, and democrats were purged, leaving the Ayatollah. Far worse than the Shah.