Today, Shah's Iran doesn't look so bad.

Morning Call ^ | 2/25/07 | Eli Schwartz

[freedom44]

When making a radical change, good sense requires that you consider the alternative. In 1978, the coalition that overthrew the Shah of Iran consisted of the bazaar merchants who disliked the Shah's move to modernize the economy, including the merchandising sector; representatives of the Palestinian Liberation Organization who objected to Iran's recognition of Israel; the Tudeh, Iranian communist party; the Mujadin, composed of students following their fashionable new-left ideology and the misled intelligentsia; all these under the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers, fundamentalist Muslims who hated the Shah's regime for its tilt toward secularism, modernism, Westernization and America.

If these were his enemies, the Shah doesn't seem that bad. The severity of his regime pales by comparison to what followed. The revolutionaries held one-day secret mock trials, followed by next-day executions. Government officials and army officers went first, followed in short order by the Tudeh. Next came the suppression of the Bahai and the Zorastorians.

Of course, a large part of the Khomeini supporters, the majority of the students and the intellectuals, never expected such a violent purge. The Ayatollah had deceived them.

Of the many factors that eventually make for a better life, the Shah's record was quite good. Economic growth is always spotty, leaving some people behind. Nevertheless, the growth in Iranian per capita real income averaged around 6 percent a year over the 25 years of his government. It reached a peak of $6,700 in 1976, $6,400 in 1977, and fell to $5,400 in 1978, the year of the revolution. It averaged well below this level in all the years that followed. Now, with oil prices at a high 30 years later, it has reached the 1976 level.

[SolidWood]

The SAVAK was much more about Islam than western mores.

On what do you base this on? THe SAVAK was an instrument to curb communist and islamist subversion. They may have been brutal in their choice of methods, but that's probably the way to deal with terrorists and communists. There was nothing particulary Islamic about them.

[common denominator]

Carter thought he could do business with Khomeini because they both were religious men.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

The severity of his regime pales by comparison to what followed. The revolutionaries held one-day secret mock trials, followed by next-day executions. Government officials and army officers went first, followed in short order by the Tudeh. Next came the suppression of the Bahai and the Zorastorians.

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[freedom44]

you are 100% correct. The Savak while Muslims tried to subvert the communists, islamic fundamendalists.

Is it not interesting that when Iran & the Shah fought them it was oppression of 'human rights' but now that we do the same it is a 'war on terror'?

Hypocrisy at its best.

[SolidWood]

Oh, I would be happy if we (USA, Israel) would use more of the SAVAK methods against Islamic Terrorists and communist traitors. The War on Terror is done too nice and political correct.

[JohnBovenmyer]

if there is justice for this scumbag, he will hang from a lampost.

A lamppost seems too good for Jimmy. At first I thought of substituting a meat hook, but decided that was too good as well. Old Peanut Brain couldn't even get the trains to run on time. Better justice would be to hang him from a fire hydrant, as the only American in history vulnerable to such.