[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Alliance is fleeting, isn't it."

Yes, it is. I suspect that if five or ten years before his fall, the Shah would have submitted to a constitutional monarchy the Pahlavi dynasty would have continued. Of course we could have possibly kept him propped up. There would have been a lot of bloodshed there. The problem is that it wasnt' just the commies and islamists he was killing/torturing. It was the actual people who wanted some form of liberal democracy. A very similar situation to Egypt. There was a group of young students who wanted liberal western style rights and democracy, the movement got hijacked by the Islamist and we got the Muslim Brotherhood. The Islamists in Iran were more organized than the students. I suspect that a lot of the true revolutionists were killed of by Khomenie's cronies...

[odds]

It was the actual people who wanted some form of liberal democracy.

No. You see, it isn't what 200, or 2000 people think or thought. The population of Iran back then was 35 million in total. The 2000 was absolute max and I highly inflate number for 'intellectuals' wanting democracy or those propped up. It had to do for what the majority were ready for or not. And, in Iran's case back in the late 1970s, most were not ready for a 'liberal democracy'.

The Shah in fact publicly said that he was gradually moving towards a more open democracy, and clearly indicated that his son would run a different government. It had to take time.

Only now the new generations understand how idiotic their parent 'intellectuals' were. Thanks to the mullahs regime.