Historical Figure-Ayaotollah Khomeini

Ayatollah Khomeini was born in September 24, 1902. He was a religious leader and dictator of Iran in 1979. In 1962, the monarch of Iran passed a bill that allowed municipal officials in the country to take their oaths of office on whatever Holy Scripture they preferred. The move offended Khomeini and other Islamic fundamentalists, who considered the Koran to be the only appropriate swearing mechanism. While the United States has a blase attitude toward protests and boycotts, the monarchy in Iran was less flexible. The order was rescinded, and suddenly Khomeini was a force to be reckoned with. The fallout from the swearing issue led to widespread unrest, as the secular monarchy struggled to contain the strong fundamentalist population. In November 1979, a group of student radicals overran the U.S. embassy and took everyone inside hostage, with Khomeini's support, in retaliation for the U.S. agreeing to shelter the Shah. The crisis lasted for more than a year, paralyzing Jimmy Carter's presidency and eventually contributing greatly to his loss toRonald Reagan in the 1980 election. After the Shah died, the hostages were released on Jan. 20, 1981, the day of Reagan's inauguration.
Khomeini himself died of prostate in June 1989. Although the man died, the revolution lived on.
Doubtless he would have been disappointed by Iran's expression of sympathy to the United States on September 11, and he probably would have been infuriated by the fact that Iran is currently trying to patch up relations with the U.S. in order to avoid being the next target of George W. Bush's wrath.