Word: khomeini
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Then there was the mutual odium between the late Ayatullah Khomeini of Iran and the country he kept calling "the Great Satan." So thoroughly did American politicians and citizens reciprocate Khomeini's loathing that U.S. policy in the '80s tilted toward none other than Saddam Hussein. The enemy of our enemy was our friend. It turns out that the enemy of our enemy became our even greater enemy, because Saddam, more than Khomeini, is bent on aggressive territorial expansion. That should have come as no surprise. After all, 10 years before Saddam invaded Kuwait, he invaded Iran...
...Saddam nearly brought his regime to ruin when he attacked Iran. He had once given refuge to the Ayatullah Khomeini, then, under pressure from the Shah, expelled him. Not only did Saddam want disputed territory, but he was also provoked when Khomeini began calling for the overthrow of Saddam's "blasphemous" regime. He is a Sunni Muslim, though most Iraqis belong to the rival Shi'ite branch, as did Khomeini. Saddam responded by invading, confident that his powerful, Soviet-equipped army could easily smash the Ayatullah's ragtag militia, but the Iranians fought back. When the going got especially rough...
...another indication that the power struggle continues between moderates and radicals. There will be long-term economic repercussions from the earthquake. Still, revolution and war have inured Iran's people to death and devastation, and last week's natural disaster will not alter the hostility of Ayatullah Khomeini's devoted disciples toward the West. Only the passage of time, accompanied by calamities natural and economic, seems likely to moderate those policies...
...voted for the Islamic Salvation Front. Rather, they found common cause with the front's president, Abbassi Madani, who called the ruling F.L.N. a "party of failure." Promised Madani: "We guarantee the freedom of all who have ideas on Algeria's future." While such words are encouraging, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini promoted a similar message before he returned to Iran in 1979 from exile in France...
...memories of war are haunted most by the images of children fighting. Impassive Khmer Rouge kids, taught to massacre civilians, even their parents. Idi Amin's army of thugs, murderous preteens in wraparound sunglasses. Iranian ten-year-olds sent unarmed into battle as human minesweepers, with pictures of Khomeini pinned to their shirts. Now Mozambique is at the vanguard of the unconscionable. The Renamo rebels fighting the Chissano regime have become infamous for their instrumentalizados, children kidnaped by Renamo troops and not just trained to fight but also forced to slaughter and maim civilians...