Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, 89, The Unwavering

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Iranian Spiritual Leader

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FROM: The New York Times (June 4th 1989) ~
By Raymond H. Anderson

The life of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was so shadowy, so
overlain with myth and rumor, that there was lingering
disagreement or uncertainty about his ancestry, his true
name and his date of birth.

But when he returned in triumph to Teheran on Feb. 1, 1979 -
after almost 15 years in exile - the imposing man in a black
robe with a white beard and intense dark eyes left little
doubt about who he was, or what he wanted for his ancient
land.

Ayatollah Khomeini felt a holy mission to rid Iran of what
he saw as Western corruption and degeneracy and to return
the country, under an Islamic theocracy, to religious
purity.

The Islamic Shiite leader's fervor helped drive Shah
Mohammed Riza Pahlevi from the Peacock Throne on Jan. 15,
1979, and into foreign exile. The Shah's eventual arrival in
the United States for cancer treatment was the spark that
set off the American hostage crisis.

Hostility for the West

Under the Ayatollah, Iran was wrenched backward from
widespread economic development and social change and onto a
path that was broadly hostile to the Western world.

The Ayatollah's path also led to eight years of bloody,
costly, inconclusive war between Iran and its Arab neighbor
Iraq. He demanded that his country fight unrelentingly after
Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980, but he eventually
accepted a truce in 1988.

Many longtime "