Word: khomeini
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...speculation about Khomeini's successor, the Ayatullah remains very much the spiritual force behind the Iranian revolution. Reportedly afflicted with a weakening heart and prostate cancer, Khomeini nonetheless grants public audiences, meets weekly with the families of martyrs and even performs Islamic marriage ceremonies. On most days, though, he remains secluded in his house in north Tehran, emerging from time to time to issue the whispery proclamations that echo around the world. Intimates say the Ayatullah yearns to ensure that the revolution will survive long after he is gone. That may not be possible, given the nation's fractious politics...
...America. While two of the youths acted as lookouts, a third placed a boxlike device at the base of a concrete wall, then rejoined his comrades. Subversives? Yes indeed, but not the kind to start an armed rebellion against the government. These, after all, were children of the Khomeini revolution, indoctrinated in the dream of conquering the world for Islam. But on this occasion they had another aim: they began to dance wildly as the pulsating rhythms of Michael Jackson's disco classic Thriller blared from the tape recorder the youth had placed beside the wall...
...visible side of Iranian life today -- the hundreds of thousands who march in support of Khomeini's pledge to exact vengeance from Iraq, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia -- underscores the fact that the Islamic government still enjoys considerable support. The invisible side is more difficult to assess, but there is evidence of a growing discontent among many Iranians, particularly the educated and the well...
...view of dissidents, all the evils for which Khomeini once criticized the Shah -- everything from brutality to official corruption -- are being committed by members of the current regime. The government continues to enjoy both popularity and legitimacy among millions of Iranians and can still command masses of young zealots who believe in Khomeini's promise to "march to Jerusalem" by way of Iraq. But the seemingly endless fighting is producing disillusionment among others. Says a factory manager whose plant is virtually closed for lack of raw materials: "A grocer down the block has lost three sons...
Many educated Iranians, even including Khomeini loyalists, complain about the number of young men killed on the battlefield. Says Sajid Rizvi, a London- based Middle East analyst: "Don't forget, government officials have children too. They are as worried as everybody else that their sons will go off and never come back." Virtually every family that has money or political connections is desperately attempting to bribe or contrive another way to get a young son out of the country. Often they ask Westerners to help arrange visas for prolonged trips abroad. Explains a Londoner who has friends in Iran: "They...