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The Shahs or the Mullahs it doesnt really matter so long as it's Iranians ruling Iranians. Anything else is as Imperial at heart as India or the Philipines ever were.
As to the nature of the system which the revolution overthrew, I would wager those wonderful liberal values extended primarily to the middle classes ... If Iran had been a model of fairplay and evenhanded justice for all I have doubts that so many of the populace would have risen and given their support to the revolution.
*Chuckles* I just read that last paragraph back to myself and then it occurred to me...Wolf, do you value any classes beyond the middle class? I hear much about the middle class in America....is there a place in your world view for the working class?
Just teasing. ....Anyway....The fact that the revolution once achieved led to a disappointingly repressive form of governance does not then give outsiders the right to stomp in and make 'em do it properly. Instead what that leads to, or should lead to in a forward looking world with an internationally valued peace, is a counter revolution........often this counter revolution doesnt happen with the same fire and fervour of it's parent. Often it happens across a generation or two and it takes down the regime in a death by a thousand cuts.
This drip drip of progress and generational disenchantment with the ideals of dead martyrs is already happening in Iran. ......Or rather it was. That particular train may of course be derailed pretty fucking sharpish if you prove the Mullahs right in their fear and loathing of America ..... I wonder how many Iranian women these days take full coverage as a mark of pride in their Islamic identity and defiance against those who have launched a "war on Islam".
I am reminded of a cartoon I saw once. The details are hazy in my recollection but it involved a talking monkey, a stick, a wasp nest and some advice not followed. Got pretty messy as I recall.
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