Ayatollah Khomeini gave his famous “capitulation” speech years before I was born, but out of curiosity I chose to read his 1963 call recently. What caught my attention was how little things have changed…respected ulama and maraji remain sidelined and silenced, Majlis remains hand-picked and subservient, leadership still betrays and loots the land and citizenry, ruffians and hooligans sow fear and terror should any dare protest, and if the concern of the day was that era’s leadership’s subservience to America and its interests, there is an even greater concern today of a leadership’s subservience to Shaytan’s and their own corrupt whims. The Ayatollah was disturbed in his day that an American cook or errand boy might run him over and get away without facing Iranian justice because of the legal immunity granted American expatriates residing in Iran, or conversely that he might face a greater legal sanction for running over an American’s dog than an American might face for running him over…genuine and valid concerns and protestations about the state of Iran’s sovereignty at the time. But what would the Ayatollah say and do were he alive and aware of the state of affairs today?
