CIA'S ROLE IN FORMING SAVAK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505290007-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: March 2, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000505290007-5
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WDVM TV
CBS Network
DATE March 2, 1980 7:00 PM CITY Washington, D.C.
CIA's Role in Forming SAVAK
MIKE WALLACE: Today is the 120th day the American
hostages have been held captive in Teheran, and today marks the
end of the first week of the U.N. tribunal's investigation into
the alleged crimes of the deposed Shah. They have been asked
also to investigate Iranian charges of U.S. complicity in those
acts:
Why do so many Iranians believe in U.S. complicity,
guilt? Why do they so fervently endorse the anti-American Kho-
meini and the holding of the hostages?
Of course, we know the embassy takeover was triggered
by the Shah's entry into the U.S. last October for medical treat-
ment. More about that later. But beyond that, the fury in Iran
focuses on the undenied fact that the CIA restored the exiled
Shah to the Peacock Throne back in 1953. And after that, the
Iranians have been told, the CIA helped the Shah set up SAVAK,
the secret police force that has tortured so many thousands of
them.
. A classified Senate Foreign Relations Committee report
confirms the CIA's role in forming SAVAK. It says the CIA pro-
vided the Shah money, as well as training, for that purpose. Of
course, the brutality came later.
In 1976, in Niabran (?) Palace in Teheran, I asked the
Shah about the continuing reports of torture Inflicted by his
SAVAK upon so many of his citizens.
Now, when an outfit like the International Commission
of Jurists comes here and then comes out with a report saying
that in spite of what you say, Your Majesty, torture continues...
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000505290007-5