Megalomaniac? Do you know what that term means? How can a person who says call me the nation’s servant, not leader be a megalomaniac? As for utilizing violence, since when was that a deviation from Islamic tradition? I believe the prophet utilized violence and engaged in many batlles. And what private dreams? You speak in elusive vague langauge. His dream was to spread Islam, thats the wish of the Muslim world, not a dream of Khomeini alone. Plus whats wrong with dreaming? Khomeini was the most humble leader in the history of Iran, show me evidence otherwise. You seem to be a victim of western propoganda. You never lived under him, never heard him speak apparently, for claiming such bullsh*t.

As for Kaveh you claim Mossadeq made Iran independent. You are wrong. Mossadeq TRIED to make Iran independent, but FAILED. Khomeini is the one who made Iran independent.

As for the cost of being independent why don’t you go take a walk in the cemeteries of Iran where hundreds of thousands are buried. Ask them what’s independence worth.

I understand there is a certain sense of frustration when you are part of a group that is so irrelevant to todays politics that they can only hope and aspire to become Chalabi. Perhaps a few parades or parties in Las Vegas would help. Or maybe you can join forces with Mohammed Zahir Shah afterall 2 kings are better than one.

“…the liberty to take important decisions without having to consult a superpower” / “At least Khomeini made Iran independent.”

Your ridiculous and farcical standard, taken to its most logical conclusion, would lead us to conclude that thugs and criminals like Mugabe, Kim Jong Il, and Hassan al-Bashir are currently the world’s greatest and most heroic leaders. They’ve managed to so thoroughly isolate their countries that they never have to consult any other nation, superpower or otherwise.

There is a huge difference between becoming an independent nation and becoming an international pariah. Someone like Mossadegh managed to make Iran independent. Khomeini made Iran a pariah in the international community. Mossadegh never had to murder or imprison anyone to achieve our independence. He never had to take hostages, order the murder of dissidents abroad, or declare fatwas on foreign authors who exercised free speech.

And since when is “independence” the sole goal to be pursued, at any cost? Has this supposed “independence” been worth the execution and torture of thousands of men, women, and children? Has it been worth the destruction of the Iranian economy and infrastructure? Has it been worth 30 years of gender apartheid?

“Abstract morals are great for discussion…”

That whole sentence is so poorly written that I’m not even going to attempt to decipher its meaning.

Asad, I know that there is a certain cachet to being contrarian and anti-American. Spewing this “anti-imperialist” (I put it in quotation marks because it is, in fact, divorced from real anti-imperialism) nonesense gets you noticed at dinner parties. Hell, Hoder — that despicable sack of shit masquerading as an ‘activist’ — has made a career out of it. But, alas, your efforts at being contrarian and ‘anti-imperialist’ just make you look like an ignorant fool who can’t call Khomeini and his band of reactionary murderers what they truly are: evil.

“I want the reformists to succeed. I’d wanted to defy the Iranian
exiles, sitting in LA, who summoned the people to rebellion through
the medium of US-funded television broadcasts. I’d wanted to
disappoint America’s new-conservatives who, from a position of
near-complete ignorance , wrote fluid little Utopias about a Middle
East built anew in the image of New England. Later, when I became
friends with disappointed revolutionaries, I had hoped that the
Islamic Republic would evolve in a way that didn’t humiliate them. I
had willed the preservation of Iran’s sole perceptible gain of the
past quarter of a century: the liberty to take important decisions
without having to consult a superpower”

I don’t know if Hossein is really as big a fan of Khomeini as he sounds, I suspect his admiration for Khomeini comes in large part because of his disgust with the Iranian ex-pat community. Their sniveling commentary on how great a country ancient Persia was when that same monarchy became a joke would drive any sane person away. At least Khomeini made Iran independent.

let’s take a look at the community, the ex-pat community can’t even get a parade together
http://www.nypp.org/
http://www.persianparade.org/
Next to these guys Khomeini looks great.

Abstract morals are great for discussion on paper but it’s not reality, when your choices are a drug addled family who go on TV begging other people to give them a crown vs. a guy who managed to make an independent country well guess who are you going to root for ? especially when you don’t have to live in that independent country.