This week I decided to look at the history behind the
government in Iran that we see today. So how exactly did Ayatollah Khomeini
come into power?
Like the
beginnings of most dictatorships, it began with another dictator. This dictator
was called Mohammed Reza Shah. He operated his government like the great Soviet
Union, making sweeping promises, and was hyper vigilant to any signs of
opposition. His greatest watchdog, the Savak, terrorized the country. Even in
times of economic growth when dictators are usually safe from being overthrown,
there was great opposition against the Shah. Ayatollah Khomeini led the
opposition against the Shah, even from exile in France. When the Shah handed
over his government to the new Prime Minister, Shapour Bakhtiar, on January 16,
1979, the gates broke open for Ayatollah. It was only a month until Ayatollah
made his way back to his home country. The new Prime Minister, seeing his
future decline rapidly, fled from the country only a few days later. Several
months after this, on April 1, a national referendum took place to elect the
new form of government. The entirety of the ballot would have looked like this:
Islamic Republic: Yes
or No
It was not surprising that Ayatollah achieved a “landslide”
victory. Shortly after this election, Ayatollah declared a new Islamic
constitution establishing him as the supreme spiritual leader of the country,
and that, as they say, was that.
A few more
Iranian “President’s” later and it is present day Iran. Usually the position of
President occupies the seat of power, but not so in Iran. Ayatollah saw what
happened when the Shah left his government to another man, allowing Ayatollah
to seize control, and Ayatollah will certainly not make that mistake. Although
it is not his name that appears in news articles about Iran, he is clearly the
chief puppeteer, making certain that he is pulling the strings behind every decision being made in Iran.
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/islamic_revolution/islamic_revolution.php
I like the puppeteer metaphor. Very clever. Although the whole situation with the government of Iran is pretty unfortunate. Hopefully one day soon this whole ordeal can be straightened out.
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