Ayatollah Khomeini

Like most Americans my age, I grew up believing that the Ayatollah Khomeini was an evil, hate filled person....point is, he apparently gave gifts to his Christian neighbors when living in France on Christmas to apologize to them for having so many people coming around to his house and disturbing them.

I know it's not much, and perhaps its just the political skill the man clearly did possess, but that made me wonder if the picture of him we'd all be painted in the US wasn't accurate.

Video here for anyone interested:

Thanks for posting.
Who knows if it's true, but it is true we have been and continue to be lied to.
Whatever problems our leaders have with their leaders and vice versa shouldn't be taken out on their people or our people.

reply to post by curiouscanadian777


I agree, I'm really feeling more and more like we're being shown an image of what ... whoever....wants us to believe the world is. If I've read correctly, and I admit I may be wrong, or it may be urban legend, but I heard that even for all his faults that Saddam Hussein said in his farewell address to Iraq that they shouldn't hate the American people. Just their leaders.

Yeah, he really got a raw deal.
For whatever his faults might have been, and this goes for Libya as well, under their leadership the people were prosperous and taken care of. Free health care, world class hospitals, and a high level of education, not sure if it was free or not.

www.alternet.org...

In Libya free education, free health care, free electricity, free land for farmers who pledged to farm it, a down payment for a house when people got married, a share in the oil revenue.

Here is a pretty eye opening article on Libya, though I haven't finished it yet nor confirm that it's completely truthful. But, he does list sources, and those facts above you can verify elsewhere.

gagnauga.is...

Our leaders and our media are war-mongering liars and most of us believe them. Sad sad sad.

Here's a blog of an Iraqi woman. I've read thru just a small portion of it. It is heart wrenching stuff.
We've been lucky not to ever have war in our towns and cities and homes.

arabwomanblues.blogspot.ca...

She hates the Iranians btw. I don't think what WE are told by our leaders/media about them is true.
I would be more inclined to believe her as she lived in the area. From an Iraqi perspective, there is a lot of hatred there.
So, I think it's like, yes, they may be bad, but not in the way WE think they're bad, if that makes sense...Because we 'hate' them based on lies, where as the Iraqi's hate them for very specific and probably justified reasons, and probably vice versa.

Yeah, I know there's historically been a lot of bad blood between Arabs and Persians anyways, plus Saddam was a Sunni that kept the Shi'a in Iraq suppressed, which offended the Iranians...on the other hand, during the time of the Shah the Iranians seemed to have treated Iraq and Iraqis fairly poorly. Though, everything I've read is written from an Anglo-American perspective, so who knows how accurate it is to those that actually live(d) there-like you said.

Those look like great links, thanks for sharing, I'm checking them out now.

Oh, this was interesting too, it was linked to on Youtube from that Khomeini video I posted in the OP:



When I watched it really caught my attention since I've heard that same thing here on ATS consistently.

Right on, thanks. Nice to meet you

Yeah, the Shah was down to the US also, did you know? They helped overthrow democratically elected Mossadegh and install the Shah who was really terrible for the people. But, great for the oil companies! Mossadegh had wanted to Nationalize the oil, kick the foreign companies out. Gaddafi had done this as well.

It's hard to keep up with. So much double crossing and double dealing and lies lies lies.

Here's Ron Paul on Iran, giving Rick Santorum a knowledge slap down. I love him!

youtu.be...

Thanks for posting. I haven't heard much if anything from the Ayatollah before this, but lots from Ahmadinejad. and found the same thing to be true- they sound quite reasonable. They make sense.
Our leaders talk 'crazier' than they do.
Thank Gawd for the internet.

I love Ron Paul too, he speaks the truth!

I have heard of the 1953 coup to install the Shah, yes, I recall Ahmedinejad referring to it a few years ago too. It's apparently still a sore spot for the Iranian people. Not that I blame them, honestly. Case in point: I saw a thread about international election observers here in the US for the election next week and it bothered me. That's just outsiders coming to watch! If we had a President imposed on us by an outside party...can you imagine how incensed and offended we'd be? I know I would be.

Sorry, forgot to say it's nice to meet you too!

As for Ahmedinejad, I've heard that he's not the monster he's made out to be in the press here, but I've not yet researched him. I just happened upon the Khomeini clip because I watched "The Devil's Double" the other night, the movie about Uday Hussein's body double. That got me interested in watching videos about the Iran-Iraq war, which has long been an interest of mine...weird, I know. From there I saw that Khomeini video and I was shocked at how reasonable and normal he seemed, nothing like he'd been portrayed.

I'm sure that the language barrier helps keep us from the truth too. Most of us have no idea what's being said by them, so we could be told the worst possible transliteration of meaning. Or just out and out mis-translations too for that matter.

How was that movie?
That and ummm, the new one with Ben Affleck about the hostage crisis...Agora? Is it? Anyway, I had both of them pegged to be propaganda.
Yeah, I didn't know about the Shah etc til Ron Paul. It's been the last couple years I've realized that everything I thought I knew is mostly lies.
Our Canadian politicians are just as bad, and we're pretty much y'all's bitch, lol

reply to post by curiouscanadian777


The Devil's Double was a good movie. Yes, there's tons of anti-Saddam propaganda in it, but as a movie it was worth watching. I've heard that that Agora was pretty good, but it probably is more propaganda.

The more I realize we've been spoon fed lies our whole lives, the more I wonder what else we think is true isn't.

Do you have any interviews or clips of Ahmedinejad that you reccomend watching? I'd like to get my own perspective on the man now, you know?

Cool, good to know. I'll check it out.

Yeah, I know the feeling!

Have you gotten into the Federal Reserve stuff? Jesus, that turned my world upside down! Felt sick...

Here's a link to an excerpt from "The Creature From Jekyll Island" about it, if you haven't read it.

www.thevenusproject.com...

Gotta go, talk to you again

Ok sure.
This is one from his appearance at the UN this year.

dandelionsalad.wordpress.com...

This has a copy of the video and a transcript. I haven't read the website before, so I don't know what all's there, I was just looking for both in one place.

Last year, or maybe a couple years now, he actually brought up 9/11 and how most of the world does not believe the official story and would appreciate an independent investigation! OMG! The man has balls.
The US ppl walked out. As well as Israel I think.
Israel walked out this year, but the US stayed put.
What a bunch of babies, lol. I think he just #s with them, really...lol
Though, in all seriousness, a lot of lies and lives are wrapped up in that inept investigation, so someone in the International community should be bringing it up, right?

As some wise men once said: ''The reality is often entirely opposite of what you believe it is''....And as times go by, more and more people are starting to deeply realize that fact.

Originally posted by curiouscanadian777
Ok sure.
This is one from his appearance at the UN this year.

dandelionsalad.wordpress.com...

This has a copy of the video and a transcript. I haven't read the website before, so I don't know what all's there, I was just looking for both in one place.

edit on 2-11-2012 by curiouscanadian777 because: add comment

Wow...I read the transcript while the speech played...I have to say, I'm guilty of blindly going along with assuming the guy's a nut because that's what I've heard over and over...but he makes a lot of great points, and strangely, he makes points that conservatives (which I trend towards myself) can really relate to, like respect for all cultures, respect for family, making morality a part of society. It's an excellent speech.

I have read a bit about the Fed here before, yes, and its amazing isn't it? I still don't want to believe that there's some sort of world ruling cabal, but it really is beginning to appear as if there is one using us all like pawns.

Originally posted by shapur
As some wise men once said: ''The reality is often entirely opposite of what you believe it is''....And as times go by, more and more people are starting to deeply realize that fact.

Exactly...

The US/West are not responsible for everything that's wrong in the ME or the world.

I'm glad somebody clarified it.

Originally posted by curiouscanadian777
Yeah, he really got a raw deal.
For whatever his faults might have been, and this goes for Libya as well, under their leadership the people were prosperous and taken care of. Free health care, world class hospitals, and a high level of education, not sure if it was free or not.
In Libya free education, free health care, free electricity, free land for farmers who pledged to farm it, a down payment for a house when people got married, a share in the oil revenue.

yes maybe but still Saddam and Ghadzafie were dictators and murderers they had no religion, no logic and no mercy. however I do not want to justify the attacks on Iraq and or Libya. the internal issues should be solved internally, moreover Saddam and Ghadzafi were someday friends of superpowers and were supported by them.
they were not popular. Khomeini was a leader not a dictator. and leadership is an indirectly elected position and supervised by the so called eight year directly elected "assembly of experts" in Iran.

She hates the Iranians btw. I don't think what WE are told by our leaders/media about them is true.
I would be more inclined to believe her as she lived in the area. From an Iraqi perspective, there is a lot of hatred there.

I do not think so my friend, she is just a blogger and her thoughts are respected but the arabs public opinion is here:
mideast.foreignpolicy.com...

Originally posted by BobM88

 

I agree, I'm really feeling more and more like we're being shown an image of what ... whoever....wants us to believe the world is.

this is exactly the meaning of Media ! I myself try to get news from various media not some limited one.

but I heard that even for all his faults that Saddam Hussein said in his farewell address to Iraq that they shouldn't hate the American people. Just their leaders.

I doubt Saddam knew anything from humanity but yes of course there is no reason that nations hate each others.

I'm sure that the language barrier helps keep us from the truth too. Most of us have no idea what's being said by them, so we could be told the worst possible transliteration of meaning. Or just out and out mis-translations too for that matter.

be sure, the translations were good in those videos.

Yeah, I know there's historically been a lot of bad blood between Arabs and Persians anyways, plus Saddam was a Sunni that kept the Shi'a in Iraq suppressed, which offended the Iranians..

yes maybe there were conflicts historically but wars are because of power and greed not religion ! Saddam had no religion ! it is like we call Hitler a catholic. Saddam was the aggressor in Iran-Iraq war and it was supported by powers. Saddam attacked both Iranians and Iraqis(even sunnies) with chemical weapons !
Arab monarchies supported Saddam just not because of nationality or sects because they knew that this revolution
will affect their monarchies what nowadays is known as "arab spring".

when real religions enter the equation then we can expect what Khomeini did, congratulating the christmas !
indeed religions are to unite humanity, this is my personal view. what khomeini did was not just a showing off, that was his belief from his religious point of view that no one should annoy his neighbours and of course real muslims believe that Jesus is alive and will return.