IRAN and its mullahs

WAIS will pay more attention to Iran, which is now in the crosshairs of Israel and sees no reason why it should be a sitting duck.  One problem is that the mullahs are not very nice people, witness the obituary of Sadeq Khalkhali, the "hanging judge" whose obituary appeared in The Economist (12/13/03). His victims were often supporters of the Shah, like Amir Abbas Hoveida, who was tried and executed in secret. "Executioner Khalkhali" was associated with the seminary at Qom as a student and later as a teacher. He belonged to the generation of young mullahs who were imprisoned or exiled by the Shah.  They were now getting their revenge.  How the mullahs seized power on the fall of the Shah is an interesting story. Iran could have been taken over by pro-Soviet radicals.  The theory is that "the West·" (?) supported the mullahs to prevent that. It sounds singularly like Afghanistan, where the US supported and armed groups which morphed into the Taliban.  Iran and Afghanistan provide excellent examples of the law of unforeseen consequences.

Your comments are invited. Read the home page of the World Association of International Studies (WAIS) by simply double-clicking on:   http://wais.stanford.edu/
E-mail to hilton@stanford.edu. Mail to Ronald Hilton, Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA 94305-6010. Please inform us of any change of e-mail address.