Abstract

Recollections of childhood and early career; employment with SAVAK; recollections of Generals Teymur Bakhtiyar and Hasan Pakravan; on General Bakhtiyar’s removal from SAVAK; on SAVAK’s mode of operation; on the events of 1963-64, and General Pakravan’s intercession with the Shah on behalf of Ayatollah Khomeini; on the causes of the Revolution of 1978-79; on the top echelon of the military’s mismanagement of the political crisis of 1978-79; recollection of the debates within the armed forces on the choice of action to quell the civil unrest; on how revolutionary forces took control of the cities; on the armed forces’ decision to declare itself neutral; on charges of collusion between a number of the military commanders and the revolutionary forces; on General Gholam Ali Oveysi’s activities in exile and plans for an armed opposition to the revolutionary order; on the structure and mode of operation of the State Gendarmerie.