Monday, September 29, 2003

Hossein Khomeini in US

pv vivekanand

If there was any trace of doubt that Washington had
enlisted the grandson of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, who despised the US and declared it was the
greatest enemy of Iran, in seeking "regime change" in
Terhan, then that has been removed by his arrival in
Washington.
Hossein Khomeini, 46, crossed to Iraq from Iran in
July and since then had issued several statements and
granted media interviews castigating the theocratic
regime in Tehran and openly welcoming American
military intervention to topple it.
He arrived in Washington last week and is addressing
Iranian Americans as well as others in gatherings,
explaining his opposition to the Iranian regime and
calling for support for Washington's plans for regime
change in Tehran.
Such calls add to the growing American pressure on
Iran, which the US accuses destabilising the region by
seeking to develop nuclear weapons and supporting
"terrorist" groups in Palestine and Lebanon.
The political clout of Hossein Khomeini, who carries
the title of hojatoeslam -- several rungs down the
ultimate Shiite rank of grand ayatollah that his
grandfather occupied -- is not known.
But his ongoing visit to the US is definitely sending
a signal to Iranians that he is now entrenched in the
American camp and could be the link between Washington
and Iranians opposed to the clerical regime.
Hossein Khomeini used to be a constant companion of
his grandfather, including 14 years of exile in Iraq
during the Shah's reign. His father, Mustafa Khomeini,
was killed by agents of the Shah's dreaded Savak
secret police in the 70s.
Some Iranians content that Hossein Khomeini went
against the regime that followed the death of his
grandfather when it became clear that the ultimate
helm of Shiites was not a hereditary affair.
Others say that Hossein Khomeini was always a liberal
and had disputes with his grandfather, who once jailed
him for a week.
The late Ayatollah Khomeini continues to the most
reverred among Iranians, as well as among Iraq's
Shiites, who comprise almost two-thirds of Iraq's 24
million people.
It is in the course of those interviews that Hossein
Khomeini sent shockwaves through the region and indeed
outside by describing the current regime in Tehran as
"the worst dictatorship... worse even than the
communists."
He contented that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein
would allow newfound freedoms to flourish in the
region and if they did not, US intervention would be
welcomed by most Iranians.
"Iranians insist on freedom, but they are not sure
where it will come from," he said. "If it comes from
inside, they will welcome it, but if it was necessary
for it to come from abroad, especially from the United
States, people will accept it."
Hossein Khomeini accused the regime of oppressing
the Iranian people and committing human rights abuses.

He argued that Iran's reformist movement was finished
and suggested that a referendum to decide how the
country should be governed in the future.
He questioned the principle of velayat faqih, or
Islamic jurisprudence, upon which the Iranian system
is based.
According to Hossein Khomeini, if his grandfather
were alive today, he would have opposed all of Iran's
current leaders because of what he described as their
excesses and wrongdoing.
The reformist camp in Iran is finished, he said.
People who had voted for President Mohammed Khatami in
1997 hoping things would change had seen things get
worse, rather than better, in his second term of
office, he said, adding that those who voted for an
Islamic Republic in Iran more than 20 years ago were
now in a minority.
He is vague about his political ambitions, but affirms
he would like to be involved in politics.
"I would love to be effective in bringing about
freedom with a movement either inside Iran or
outside," he said. "I want freedom for myself and my
children, whether in the leadership or a step away."
"Iran has given an order that I must be assassinated
by whatever means possible," he said. "Their feeling
is: This man is dangerous."