TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/061989/06198900.026

Text File | 1990-09-22 | 8KB | 141 lines

WORLD, Page 38

IRAN

A Frenzied Farewell

The Imam is gone, and his power is up for grabs

By Jill Smolowe


    He did not go gentle into that good night. The funeral of the
Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini ignited an emotional outpouring from
his fanatical followers that Westerners found as bizarre,
frightening -- and ultimately incomprehensible -- as the passions
he stirred during ten turbulent years as leader of Iran. Even after
his burial, Khomeini excoriated his enemies in the outside world,
raging in his will against "the atheist East" and "the infidel
West," branding Jordan's King Hussein a "criminal tramp," accusing
the leaders of Egypt and Morocco of "treason," and denouncing the
U.S. as an "inborn terrorist" organization.

    While the Ayatullah's body lay in state inside a refrigerated
glass box, the crowd of mourners in Tehran became so thick that
eight were reportedly crushed to death. The next day, as a
helicopter brought the open wooden coffin containing Khomeini's
remains to the city's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, nearly a million
mourners thrust forward in the blistering heat and choking dust,
many wailing and pounding their heads as they groped to touch the
body and snatch a piece of the linen burial shroud.

    Some managed to surge past a force of Revolutionary Guards,
clambering into the casket to plant kisses on the Imam's face. The
corpse spilled to the ground, bare feet protruding from beneath the
white shroud. As the Guards beat back the crowds, firing shots in
the air and spraying fire hoses, other soldiers shoved the body and
coffin back into the chopper. It lifted off with the casket hanging
precariously out the door.

    Some five hours passed before there was another, successful
attempt to deliver the body to its final resting place, this time
encased in a metal coffin. Again arms flailed and chants of "Death
to America!" filled the air as the helicopter touched down.
Although barricades held most of the crowd at bay, the Guards were
forced to make a frantic push past the outstretched hands to
deliver the coffin to the grave site. At the last instant, the
metal lid of the casket was ripped off, and the body was rolled
into the grave, in keeping with an Islamic tradition that requires
that the dead be interred in only a shroud. The grave was quickly
covered with concrete slabs and a large freight container to
prevent delirious mourners from exhuming the corpse. By the end of
the ceremony, more than 440 people had been hospitalized and an
additional 10,800 had been treated for injuries.

    That frenzied send-off seemed a fitting coda for a man who
returned a decade ago from exile in Paris to an equally hysterical
welcome. But it gave little indication of what will follow.
Khomeini was the glue that held together Iran's political radicals
and religious extremists. Many Iranians fear that their country
will now be torn asunder by bitter factional struggles. "All the
people say things will be worse now," warned a 23-year-old student.
"We were united when Khomeini was alive."

    One potential source of conflict is outside interference from
such groups as the Iraq-based People's Mujahedin of Iran. There is
also the danger of a new burst of Iran-sponsored international
terrorism as rival organizations contend for power. "As the
factionalism builds up, there will be more free-lance terrorism and
less control from the center," warns Gary Sick, who monitored Iran
for the National Security Council under the Carter Administration.

    Iran's clerics may have thwarted those threats, at least
temporarily, by moving swiftly to fill the power vacuum created by
Khomeini's passing. Less than 24 hours after his death, the
83-member Council of Experts designated President Ali Khamenei the
country's new spiritual leader. While it is uncertain that Khamenei
can retain the post, his quick appointment headed off the ascent
of more radical potential successors. The Revolutionary Guards, the
regular army and several of Iran's leading political figures,
including Parliamentary Speaker Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
quickly closed ranks behind the new leader. "For the moment," says
Bernard Hourcade, a French expert on Iran, "the clerics have shown
exemplary moderation."

    Khamenei, 49, who upon his selection was apparently elevated
from a lower clerical rank to the status of ayatullah, was a
compromise choice. During his career, he has played the role of
both hard-line mullah and political pragmatist. A moralistic
religious scholar who comes from a family of religious scholars,
Khamenei has gained public renown by delivering fiery speeches at
Friday prayers. Arrested at least six times during the Shah's
reign, Khamenei has also been the target of the opposition People's
Mujahedin. In 1981 he was seriously injured by a bomb. His right
arm was permanently crippled, and his vocal cords were damaged.
Since that year, Khamenei has held the post of President and has
seesawed between denouncing the West and seeking to renew Iran's
ties with it.

    Khamenei, however, is no Khomeini. In the months ahead, he
could be vulnerable to power grabs by other contenders to the
throne. They probably do not include Ahmed Khomeini, a radical
cleric who played an increasingly visible role in the months his
father lay dying. Although revered by some, the younger Khomeini
is ridiculed by others, who perceive him as a weakling.

    But Speaker Rafsanjani, who is also Commander in Chief of the
armed forces, is definitely somebody to watch. Last week he
announced his candidacy for the presidency, and he is expected to
win the contest, scheduled for August. Though he is a leader of the
relative pragmatists within the government, Rafsanjani's reputation
for moderation has yet to be tested. On those occasions when the
political winds in Iran have blown toward less hostile relations,
Rafsanjani has expressed a desire to improve ties with the outside
world.

    Western leaders are wisely remaining cautious about the fickle
mullahs. It is unlikely that Iran's attitude toward its enemies
will take a pronounced turn for the better anytime soon. While some
Western analysts detect signs that Iran's foreign policy will
eventually moderate, others warn that none of Khomeini's heirs can
run the risk of appearing to betray the Ayatullah's revolution.
"They believe that challenging the West is what gives them
legitimacy," says former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

    That bodes ill for the 13 Western hostages, nine of them
Americans, currently being held in Lebanon. Last week President
Bush adopted a wait-and-see stance. He called on Iran to help seek
the hostages' release and dismissed the prospect of any overtures
toward Tehran's new leadership. "They have been a terrorist state,"
Bush said. "As soon as they move away from oppression and extremism
of that nature, we will review our relationship." Iran, meanwhile,
announced that it will not assist in seeking the hostages' freedom
until frozen Iranian assets are released by the U.S. and unless
Washington helps locate four Iranians missing in Lebanon.

    The first reliable indications of Iran's future course are not
likely to emerge until after the presidential election, scheduled
for Aug. 18. At that time, voters will also be presented with a
referendum proposing constitutional changes that would strengthen
the presidency. If Rafsanjani wins as expected, he will be faced
with reviving an economy so dysfunctional that only a thriving
black market prevents widespread shortages of basic commodities.
If Khamenei proves to be a weak leader, he could be toppled at that
time. Once its new leadership is in place, Iran will confront a
fundamental decision: whether to remain in a medieval morass or
re-enter the modern world that the Imam so breathtakingly defied.


-- David S. Jackson/Tehran and Frank Melville/London