Separation of Mosque & State In Iran?

Could it be? Could there actually be a budding movement afoot in Iran to split the stranglehold of Islam on the government in Tehran? It sounds like the grandson of the Ayatollah Khomeini is trying to do just that.

Hussein Khomeini is apparently enough of a threat to the regime in Tehran that they have sent out their thugs, the Revolutionary Guard, to try and track him down and assassinate him.

But where is he "hiding?" In Iraq. Specifically, in Najaf. The same city where the top religious leadership is accepting the American military as liberators, not oppressors.

So Khomeini, the grandson of the Yankee-hating revolutionary, is now taking refuge in a city whose freedom and security is being assured by a US-led military coalition. It says something about the US that he, the blood descendant of one of the most anti-American people in history, knows that he can enter an area under US military control and feel safe.

But even that isn't the most intriguing part of this story. Instead it is the fact that he, of all people, is calling a spade a spade. He has called out the Iranian clerics as "...the tyrannical rule of religion that was reminiscent of the rule of the Church during Europe's Dark Ages." He also refers to the clerics as "the world's worst dictatorship."

If you're Ali Khameini sitting there exploiting the situation left by the Ayatollah Khomeini, then getting called out by his blood is probably the worst thing that could happen to you. You're people are already disaffected with you, to put it mildly. The students are nearly ready to turn you into the next Mussolini. And now, the one person who can probably have the most damaging effect on your last shred of credibility or legitimacy comes out with a comment like this: "All those who took control of the centers of power of Iran after my grandfather are exploiting his name, the name of Islam, and the religious regime so as to continue their tyrannical rule."

Looking back, the Iranian dissidents have really been missing one thing in their quest for freedom: a vocal, unafraid, charismatic person to rally around. Sure, the Son of the Shah has tried, but he just strikes me as not quite having what it takes. He's sitting thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, wearing Armani, broadcasting back messages. Hussein Khomeini is there, on the ground, his distance from Tehran measured in hundreds, not thousands, of miles. He is talking and rallying under the threat of death from the Revolutionary Guard.

Khomeini has the potential to be the leader of the next revolution, if he wants it. Pundits looking in on Iran from a distance have noted that the government is a house of cards, more likely to fall from within than due to external pressure. Khomeini appears, at first blush, to be one of the key cards in that house. Khomeini may be able to split the Iranian regime from within and to speed to collapse of the tyrannical terrorists running things in Tehran.

Khomeini may not be the best choice out there (I don't know, but he sure seems better than the LA playboy), but he seems to be thinking in terms of real freedom for Iran. The mainstream media has picked up the story and is starting to spread the word. It's time for Bush to make a quick decision.

Do we support the grandson of the Ayatollah Khomeini or do we hold out for someone else?

I think it's time for us to support the (new) Khomeini-led Revolution.