>IMO, it's a classic case of nut-jobs on both sides of a boarder causing pain for a wide range of people. I think this is a classic statement meant to be non-c

>IMO, it's a classic case of nut-jobs on both sides of a boarder causing pain for a wide range of people. I think this is a classic statement meant to be non-controversial enough that everyone can read their own opinion into it, but is inaccurate and adds nothing of substance to the conversation. Iran didn't become the illiberal theocracy that it is today because of 'nut jobs outside its borders', but because the student revolution that ousted the Shah was co-opted by the hardline clerics, led by Ruhollah Khomeini, who were better organized than the student protestors. The most reasonable argument for external forces being responsible for Iran's current state as a repressive regime, and as the world's largest state-sponsor of terrorism, is that Khomeini wasn't even inside Iran at the time of the revolution, and swooped in just in time to capitalize on the revolutionary struggle of others.