the days of revolution, soldiers had to fight off emotionally
charged Iranians—this time, though, in a conflict of a quite
different nature. At one point, thronging mourners upset the
coffin, tumbling out the ayatollah’s body. A helicopter had to
be ordered down to lift it away from the melee.
The master of the Iranian revolution and the undisputed
leader of its government was gone. His death left a huge void in
Iranian society that would be virtually impossible to fill. Many
Iranians had regarded Ayatollah Khomeini as an imam—not as
one of the historic Twelve, but similar to them in stature as a
spiritual leader. “Stern, demanding, and righteous, refusing to
be seduced by materialism and power, Khomeini linked the
Iranians to traditional faith and national identity,” Mackey
surmised. She added that the ayatollah “held a place in Iranian
politics and culture that had never been occupied before nor is
likely to be occupied by any other man again.”^6580 AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI
http://www.ebook3000.com