Cole, and the 1983 two-car bombing of French and American military barracks in Beirut– an attack which shares the dubious distinctions of being both the single highest-casualty incident for the U.S. Nearly every terrorist sect to have emerged from the Middle East and to have perpetrated unspeakable violence against American soldiers and civilians for 31 years has been directly traceable to the Iranian regime, including but not limited to the 1979 hostage crisis, the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Needless to say, the history of Iranian relations with the West since the rise of Islamic totalitarianism¹ in the form of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, has been one of endless conflict.
Twelve months after the first of the movement’s demonstrations, the Shah and Empress were chartering a plane to flee Iran once and forever.
The uprising, populated largely by the young and idealistic student class, had planted its intellectual roots in the teachings of the anti-Western Islamic Revival and resented the cultural influence which their leader’s dealings with the West had enacted upon their way of life. In 1979, a time of peace, economic stability, modernization, and cultural progress, the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was suddenly and decidedly toppled by a force which it had once thought too insignificant to ever pose more than a symbolic opposition to the long-standing monarchical system of Iran. A consideration of this group’s past, it’s policies, and its personnel invokes a historical parallel which should induce in Americans a healthy dose of concern. Though the current situation is being thoroughly covered by international news outlets, what is being insufficiently considered (as it so often tends to be) is the history of the region and, most notably, that of the Muslim Brotherhood– an organization whose name has emerged numerous times as a major vocal supporter of the largely youth-driven revolt.
Such is the case with the now explosive conflict between the people of Egypt and the government under long-reigning autocrat Hosni Mubarak. borders, it is occasionally incumbent upon us to broaden our perspective to consider emerging circumstances in other nations which may not yet bear directly upon American wellbeing, but which could portend great consequences for the future of American foreign policy and international relations. Despite this publication’s design being primarily devoted to domestic issues occurring within U.S.
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