zlacker

The overthrow of the shah was not "led by Khomeini". He did not return from exile in France until the shah was already gone. The shah was overthrown by a broad coalition that included, for example, also Iran's Communists. That broad coalition was then promptly sidelined by the religious faction once Khomeini returned and took advantage of the power vacuum.

>>OfSang+(OP)
Khomeini could lead it from France. I didn't mean that he led the charge at the machine guns.

Are you saying he had no part until he returned?

>>wolver+s
Before he returned, he merely oversaw one faction among many, and should not be singled out as the one leader at that stage. Iran's post 1979 government may well have gone in a completely different direction if he had not personally returned.

People familiar with this history get frustrated by the description you give, it is simply inaccurate. It is similar to the common misconception that the Bolsheviks in Russia overthrew the tsar, when the tsar had already been deposed months before (in the February Revolution) when Lenin returned from exile and launched the October Revolution.

>>OfSang+42
What you say sounds familiar, though you might forgive a lack of detail in an online post (that was pretty detailed!).

Still, what is the particular frustration? Is it that other participants in that revolution don't want Iran and their revolution painted with a broad brush as theocratic? (And that would be a false image.)

It's a good lesson for anyone who wants to shift power structures: The ones who do the shifting often are not the ones who get the power.