Declassified: Ayatollah Khomeini
Before there was Osama bin Laden there was Ayatollah Khomeini, a radical Muslim leader who challenged the world's infidels in the name of Allah. After his father was killed by bandits, the young Khomeini was brought up by his mother and aunt. However, when he was only fifteen he suffered further loss as his aunt died and then shortly afterwards his mother also passed away. Under the guidance of his elder brother he learnt Islamic science, literature, and philosophy, eventually becoming a leading authority on theological law. In 1962 he became politically active and openly protested against the torturing and imprisonment of the people by the Shah of Iran, whose regime was seen to be safeguarding the interests of the US.
On June 3 1963, Khomeini made a historic speech against the dependence of the Shah’s regime on foreign powers, and its support of Israel. He was immediately arrested, but his imprisonment inspired major public demonstrations of support, that were eventually crushed by government troops in tanks. Then in November 1964, he was arrested for a second time, and sent into exile, first to Turkey and then to Iraq, where for fifteen years Khomeini wrote and lectured against the regime in his homeland. Khomeini continued his outspoken denunciations, developing a strong religious and political following abroad, until forced to leave Iraq in 1978 by Saddam Hussein, he then moved to France.
After the Iranian government had been overthrown by an Islamic revolution in 1979, and the Shah sent into exile, Khomeini returned to Iran, declared an Islamic republic, and began to exercise ultimate authority in the nation. He was enthusiastically greeted by the people. In response to the exiled Shah's admission to the United States in September 1979, a large crowd seized the US embassy in Tehran, taking 52 American citizens hostage. In time, Ayatollah Khomeini's inspiration would lead to coups, terrorist bombings, hijackings and assaults against a demonised West. For some faithful Muslims, his rise became the inspiration for political rebirth.
Come on folks...Not all Westerners are bad people. Some of us do care that our elected officials are allowing our own people to hurt others. We think it's wrong, and we want them to stop. Some of us want to live in peace and harmony with you.
That being said, not all muslim individuals are good either, no double standards. If we can admit that treating people (men, women, and children) with respect and without causing physical harm is the most important task we must concentrate on, we can finally find some relative peace, as a whole.
As soon as they compared Khomani to Bin Laden, I clicked off & nearly vo,ited in my mouth. I'm really sick of these American propaghanda style "documentaries". I want to learn about Iranian history, not be flooded with American fear mongering tactics & ethnocentric world views.
Iran's 1979 revolution was, among many other things, the 26 years delayed answer to a US-UK-lead coup of 1953, where a legitimate Iranian government was overthrown because its president Mossadegh had decided to nationalise the oil industry. BP was not happy about this and the US helped because they thought if it worked there were profits to share. In fact there were. All this nonsense about religion and Islamist ideology… this is about money, period. Get your history right guys, and don't trust this kind of third rate propaganda. Do your research: the available sources on the Internet alone about this episode of history will open your eyes in awe (let alone a real history book from a library). Khomeini was not a "good man" in the Western sense, but he was doing what he thought was right for his people - as did many American presidents before and after him. Can you blame him?
And please, before you answer to this, verify what I wrote. You'll be surprised…
this is ghazalgo
i'm known as ghazal,also unknown...for secretive world.
what iranians know about me is early morning light,as AM in digital world stands for morning america,also known for fresh bread or wheat-flour for short,in esfahan river side.,which is on the runway of khajou bridge.
this is now,coming to 40 years of islamic movement,as technology is also growing fast by each day light.
It is not truth "he inspired terrorist bombings, hijackings and assaults against a demonised West".The Al Kaida is famous on such issues.You dont confuse this 2 seperate ideology.
As for he punished intelligence network of some western powers which they intervened (by plot) domestic policy of Iran.
The Iranian people did the unforgivable thing: They nationalized their OIL! Which is why Mossadeq was ousted by the US & UK. So they Ousted the US imposed dictator & installed a religious regime. so what? It's USA that is doing the threatening against Iran & wont forgive ANYONE that sell their Oil in anything but Dollars. SHouldnt they be allowed to have a spiritual leader?
In Iran, a spiritual leader selects the eligable candidates for presidency. In USA, the highest bidder, principally Wall Street & AIPAC selects the canditates eligable for the presidency. The spiritual leader has the union of the peoplpe & their spiritual health higher up on his list than AIPAC & Wall St. I'm sure of it, although I wouldn't personally want a Shia imam ruling my country, but then again Im not muslim. Iranians have realized all revolutions are unreliable cuz they exclude part of the populations. There's a consensus among Iranians they'll go fully democratic gradually when all are on board. The nation is changing but the US has put the people under siege & is punishin ithe iranians for being born in the wrong place by banning any bussiness being opened there which leads to starvation & genocide.. The Whitehouse needs their annual fix of muslimblood it seems
Bringing in a radical fundamentalist was not the answer to Iran's problems though. Yes, he was opposing a West that had caused most of the problems but Mohammad Mossadegh was the first real and last democratically elected Prime Minister who made serious improvements to the country and didn't sell out to the British when they wanted to nationalize the oil fields. He didn't inspire terrorism but diplomacy. Even when the shah's father was in power he asked him to be a democratic leader and not a shah. He stood for what Iran had the capability of being; Khomeini is the reason why the country is in shambles. Maybe the video was not accurate but that does not excuse the detriment Khomeini's ideology has brought on. He did not leave the country in the hands of a capable government that had its people's best interest at heart. This is why Iran is poverty stricken, a humanitarian hazard and an international danger.
this is bull , every thing they say in this doc is the opposite .the us supports radical Islamist like saudis and the iranians , if they didnt they'll be gone a long time ago
Well, this was a one shallow analysis of Iranian revolution 1979 and a charismatic leader name Khomeini. Surely, it’s wrong to compare Khomeini with Ben Laden since they are two different characters and Khomeini was more concern about Iran and the Shah who was corrupt himself and his family (his sister was involved in drug deals like present American puppet Karzai in Afghanistan) while people were living in poverty and suffering. I think Khomeini had good intentions but soon after he was brought back to Iran those around him used him as a tool to pursue their own agendas (Western agendas!)
I have talked to a whole bunch of ordinary and scholar Iranians who are in 50s and 60s now regarding the revolution of 1979 and I have a different take of the whole events. One thing that people must know is that the British had had an underground and covert cooperation with the clerics in Iran long before even Shah, the American puppet sits on throne.
The Iranian revolution and the takeover of the Islamists in Iran was due to a combination of miscalculation of Americans----as usual, and the absence of a real democratic opposition leader to Shah, and a political deal that had gone bad!
In the beginning of the revolution, not many people even knew Khomeini and everyone just wanted to kick the Shah out but they didn’t even know who should take his place. In other words, there wasn’t any clear plan in this regard and the reason probably was the Shah secret police----trained by US---- that didn’t let any dissent to grow and to become an organized entity.
What I understood is that US was in close relationship with Islamists from the day one! The reason, Khomeini could have been easily assassinated while he was in Iraq or France, but instead he lived and was placed in Air France and was delivered to leaderless people in Iran who were weary of injustices inflicted on them by a dictator puppet monarch. Now, one may ask why? Because West was afraid of Russians to take over Iran and make it a Socialist state when Shah is kicked out, but installing an Islamic regime in Iran guarantees the Russians to stay out. Now, interestingly, in the beginning of the revolution of 1979 there were many leftist groups that they were all put in prison or killed to stop the growth of left wing parties in Iran. Also, anyone who didn’t like Islamic regime (preferred a secular regime) for Iran, was stamped out as communist and either was imprisoned or killed. This sounds like a Western plot to me! It reminds me of Red Scare in US in 60’s. Ironically, this regime, which is not the same regime as 1979, is dealing with Russians (super infidels!) comfortably now!
People were forced to accept ‘The Islamic Republic’ because during the referendum when people had to choose the type of regime and name for Iran, there was only one choice and the question was: Do you want Islamic Republic of Iran? YES or NO! There was not any other choices like: Do you want Islamic republic of Iran, YES & NO - Do you want Republic of Iran, YES & NO - Do you want United States of Iran, YES & NO - Do you want Iran, YES & NO. So, this regime was installed itself with dictatorship from the day one.
The majority of Iranian people are not fanatic Muslims and they have been forced to accept this religious dictatorship. This regime forced people to spy on each other in order to eliminate any dissent, and the situation in Iran now is worse than the time when puppet Shah was there. The Islamic regime has millions of people who are paid by them (work for the government, either for Revolutionary guard of semi-revolutionary guard named Basiji) and have to abide by their orders and unfortunately, in the West, the media camera is always showing this group of people who chant anti-west slogans because the other group----those who don’t give a rat *** to this regime cannot have a voice and afraid of retaliation.
However, regarding the Iran’s nuclear program I would say Iran like any other country has a right to have nuclear capabilities and all Israel is saying is BS and unfortunately since Israel is US’s lapdog in the region, US is backing her too. Israel must declare her arsenal of nuclear weapons to the world first before she picks on Iran.
IMAM Khomeinee was the greatest leader of Iran.He was not a kind of Osama bin Laden.He changed the regime of SHAH who was killing my brother and my sister.
IMAM Khomeinee brought freedom to our people.
Khomeini and the shah followed the same religion and the same school in the religon. However, shah was loved by the american government and khomeini was not.WHY?
simple :
Shah did whatever the american government wanted. Khomeini did not. THATS ALL. Nothing more. because of that, there is all this hate on iran and its leaders now. Before, no problems between america and iran.
all bullshit that america can put to the world. I am not Muslim or anything. there is no doubt that Khomeini brought Iran into political state driven by Islamic idea( so called Islamic republic) however, he was never an dangerous to out side world other then protecting its people from USA foerigin politics to keep control over whole world especially on oil producing countries. he never when to america to overthrow USA president, but CIA want to Iran to topple there government to install Shah. This is all propaganda stories by USA to scare people. come one!!
After the USA CIA terrorist years from 1953 to 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini was a welcome change for Iranians. One must not discount the horrors set upon Iran by the Americans. Thousands were murdered in these years but Americans, for the most part, haven't the guts to acknowledge their horror upon Iranians. Some things never change.
Too short or rather too quick.
I would have love to know what was in the CIA files as the iranian students took over the embassy. But that would have been costly to track the corroborations. Both parties (Retired CIA's & some aged students).
I don't like the "Beat" of that docu...
So, humm... That was where the hidden WMD were?
Bottom line, humankind asked itself one more time (Among so many...) : -And how many time must... & pretend that he just doesn't see?
Many down below never seen the years of the years of the Shah. But sure saw to overthrow Mossadeth, a man of will & taste.
Because they just don't know that these men exist, they never seen any in their lifetime and are not about to see any since they don't live in a proper place.
Pierre.
I am an Iranian Canadian. I grew up during the time of the 79 Iranian revolution. Since then I have been very interested to learn about the politics that has affected my life and many Iranians, as a nation.
To my knowledge, everything in this documentary was in line and accurat. But it fails to say that,
1. Khomeini was sent to Iran by the French Government and with cooperation of the CIA. Air Frances 747 brought him from Paris and landed safely, while there were chaos and mass killings in Tehran.
2.He was told to creat a new pro American government and the first prime minister and ministers were actually CIA members. However, he cheated and decided to derail not only the CIA efforts, but also the will of the Iranians. And, brought the Lebaneas Hezbolah system to his ruling system.
3. The majority of the Iranians were not religious people, but he cheated the peoples trust and established the Islamic Republic.
4. Like Shah he orderd mass kilings and executions, and supressed any opposition to his own Hezbolah agenda.
5. He ordered the occupation of the US embassy and taking the hostages, as a security, because he knew that the CIA would come after him and even a Coupe would be possible if the embassy was up and running. he learned this from the 1963 CIA coupe.
6. He would have released the hostages a lot sooner. But, pro Ragan Republicans had told him to hold the hostages until Ragan is in the office, he released the hostages on the last night of Carter being in office.
My overall opinion of him is that, he may did some good to Iran, but he did a lot of bad. He gave the hope of indipendance to the people and he genuinly was against any forign powers interfiering or exploiting Iranians. However, he did not have the power and the political knowlege to do the job properly. He should have let good polititions take care of the affairs. Someone like Dr. Mossadegh would have been nice.
Khomeni was in most ways the opposite of Osama. Osama was Suni, rich, CIA agent, worked for Americans for dacades, close to the Saudis and close to the Bush presidents. Khomeni was non of the above. But, his new line of political power gave the idea of creating Muslim extremist (sunis, non Iranians) to the CIA, US and Israeli Gov.
I am living in europe and I think that french government has sent Chomeini back to iran because they have, like many other european countries, problem to integrate foreigner in their society and on the job market. They mostly have to do low-paid jobs or they are on social (for these countries it is cheaper when they put these people on social). In the sec. generation, many young people are unemployed. So, for religious leader these young people are easy prey.
I'm an iranian student. imam khomeini is a great man. I offer to other people of othe country to study imam khomeini more and his theory "velayate faghih" (in farsi: "????? ????").
The History Channel is well known to spew propaganda. This so called doc. is no exception.
Are these last two messages real?
Completely disagree, documentary is mis-presenting the information regard to this person and need to revise.
Wow!! This documentary was a disappointment. To compare Osama Bin Laden to Khomeini is like comparing apples and oranges -completely different ideology and context. Khomeini was never trained by the CIA nor was he part of any terrorist attacks. Khomeini' sin according to US propaganda was to opposed the poppet government that ruled his country and massacred its peoples with US support and aid (like the Central American peoples in the 80's did and who were also demonized as communists, meaning terrorist-American haters). Another video of blah blah blah...
It is completely inaccurate to compare Khomeini to Bin Laden. For those who are unaware of history, they will listen to this without any critical thinking. But Khomeini was really an incredible man, and this documentary is a huge misrepresentation of the facts.
Dear Megan your name doesnt look iranian and perhaps you are not iranian and you dont have enough information about this man.
he was a real murderer and he killed a lots of people mor than 10000 execution. he damaged the iranian identity. after that islamic revolution in iranian people lost their respect all over the world. if you dont believe so just go to the air ports and have look at the gates that is for Iranian people. I am an iranian i have spent 25 years of my 27 years in Iran and currently im living in Uk and i can compare the both. Iam proud of my nationality but being iranian here is a serious problem just because of this man. I know that it was not like this 30 years ago.
Dear siampton
your name doesnt look iranian, too.
Please read the comment of tomlovesjerry.
I hope you are not one of them
US propaganda!
It is not a neutral view of Khomeini. For example: you should not compare him with Bin Laden, because when he was in France, he gave gifts to the people of the village in the Christmas.
Anther example: he did not say: "Americans are the Great Satan", but he said: "America is the Great Satan" which means the American government at that time.
I hope you share other views:
Imam Khomeiny (Free PressTV documentary)
Documentary about the life of Ruhollah Khomeini
Documentary: The man who changed the world
Documentary: I knew Khomeini
Thank you very much,,
Ahmed Mad.
Would have been nice to watch and after getting sucked in to loading DivX it still doesn't load...and that's my conspiracy for today.
I know what you mean about movies where they speak too fast. Sometimes when I have the television volume turned down too low I cannot even understand them either, and English is my first language. I think a movie that has slower speech is a movie called "Titanic". They speak very clean and understandable English and I believe would be easier to understand. However it is a love story and often called a movie for girls. The other movie "The Godfather" involves characters that have thick Italian accents but most of it is in subtitles so that would a good movie either way. Let me know if you need some suggestions!
if there was no khoemeini,what would iran be like? it would be just like living in the west,breakdown of the family system,no modesty,and no remembrance of ALLAH.the majority of young iranians i have met who have come over to the uk,are anti khomeini and they get up to all sorts,drugs,alchol,opium is a a big thing with the liberal 'modern' young iranians.thank god for khomeini.
Oh yes, without Khomeini, Iran would be free, where all would be able to worship whatever religion they choose, and thousands of political prisoners would be alive. In contrast we have an oppressive Islamic theocratic regime who has murdered 10's upon 10's of thousands of those poor individuals who were not Muslim, "in the name of God," helped to foment violence and terrorist attacks in surrounding countries and the US, participate in assassinations, murder students who protest, and generally, within a few years, will destroy the world to fulfill Islamic prophecy. Oh yeah, Khomeini is not with God, he is with Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Hussein eating pork at a pig roast.
all of your hate is due to your love in american type of freedom.
your definition of freedom is the same as USA's.
you divide people to first level and second level.
many are killed in afghanistan, were killed by shah, but no protest, because
they are the second type people.
who has ever used atomic bombs, Iran or USA?
who has the biggest Arsenal? Iran or the Us?
the only guilt of Imam khomeini was this:
HE NEVER SAID "yes" to THE USA.