[valkyrieanne]

Um. They didn't flee the Shah, they fled what followed.

I *meant* to say the Khomeini regime. Really, I did. (Middle-age brain spasm.)

I had some Iranian grad assistants for teachers in engineering school. Two of them had fathers in the Shah's military. Unlike the Egyptians or Saudis, the Iranians treated women engineering students pretty decently. I don't imagine their fathers survived if they didn't get out.

[Eala]

Yes, the Persians are a very different people from the Arabs. The wife lived in Iran during the Shah's time and is fluent in Farsi, so I've had plenty of opportunity to get to know them here.

One never knows about surviving the regime, though. The wife knew an Iranian doctor over here, but when the revolution occurred he want back and disappeared. She just learned yesterday that he's still alive.