Một buổi tối năm 1978, trong khi tôi đang ngồi một mình tại quầy bar sang trọng ra khỏi hành lang của khách sạn Intercontinental ở Tehran, tôi cảm thấy một vòi nước trên vai của tôi. Tôi quay sang nhìn thấy một heavyset Iran trong một vụ kiện kinh doanh. | CHAPTER 20 The Fall of a King One evening in 1978 while I was sitting alone at the luxurious bar off the lobby of the Hotel Intercontinental in Tehran I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a heavyset Iranian in a business suit. John Perkins You don t remember me The former soccer player had gained a lot of weight but the voice was unmistakable. It was my old Middlebury friend Farhad whom I had not seen in more than a decade. We embraced and sat down together. It quickly became obvious that he knew all about me and about my work. It was equally obvious that he did not intend to share much about his own work. Let s get right to the point he said as we ordered our second beers. I m flying to Rome tomorrow. My parents live there. I have a ticket for you on my flight. Things are falling apart here. You ve got to get out. He handed me an airline ticket. I did not doubt him for a moment. In Rome we dined with Farhad s parents. His father the retired Iranian general who once stepped in front of a would-be assassin s bullet to save the shah s life expressed disillusionment with his former boss. He said that during the past few years the shah had showed his true colors his arrogance and greed. The general blamed . policy particularly its backing of Israel of corrupt leaders and of despotic governments for the hatred sweeping the Middle East and he predicted that the shah would be gone within months. You know he said you sowed the seeds of this rebellion in the n early fifties when you overthrew Mossadegh. You thought it very clever back then as did I. But now it returns to haunt you us. 1 I was astounded by his pronouncements. I had heard something similar from Yamin and Doc but coming from this man it took on new significance. By this time everyone knew of the existence of a fundamentalist Islamic underground but we had convinced ourselves that the shah was immensely popular among the majority of his people and was therefore politically invincible. The general .
