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- LETTERS, Page 8Khomeini's Legacy
-
- I have tried to understand the devotion of the Iranian
- people to the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini (WORLD, June 12). He
- murdered thousands to consolidate his power during the
- revolution, and he sent hundreds of thousands to their deaths
- in the war against Iraq. He left his country an economic basket
- case. Yet his people seem desolate as they mourn his death.
-
- Michael Eversman Crofton, Md.
-
- To compare Khomeini with India's Mohandas Gandhi because
- both "mobilized spiritual forces for political ends" is
- asinine. Khomeini preached Islamic fundamentalism and tried to
- suppress opposition through savagery. Gandhi, by contrast, read
- from the Muslim Koran, the Hindu Bhagavad Gita and the Christian
- Bible. Moreover, the Ayatullah promoted his religious views
- through bloodshed; Gandhi preached nonviolence.
-
- Salil P. Patel Berwyn, Pa.
-