Islamic Revolution in the Eyes of Intellectuals (5)

Today, we study the view of former CIA Director, Stansfield Turner, on the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, and the standpoint of well-known American Sociologist, John Foran, about the Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution has always been a part of written history of authors and analysts of the contemporary century. In fact, as the age of Islamic Revolution extends; the demands for understanding the terms of occurrence of the Islamic Revolution and reasons behind its sustainability also extends further. Today, we review some of the views of Western authors, journalists, and statesmen on Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

The then CIA director throughout the term of Jimmy Carter’s administration, Stansfield Turner, upon the ouster of Pahlavi regime, and victory of Islamic Revolution, referred to it as indefinable.

The former US president, Bush Senior, noted that he asked the then CIA director, who was dismissed due to victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, that “how come with all of the agents you have worldwide, and with all of your super advanced equipment, and huge budget, you failed to predict the revolution of Iranian people.” In response, the former CIA director stated what happened in Iran is indefinable. “Our computers do not understand it.”

In an interview with NBC TV Network, Turner admitted: “What we could not predict was that a 78-year-old Cleric, who was in exile for 14 years, would gather all these people and that suddenly we would face a huge erupting volcano and a national revolution.”

With a glance at the views of major American and European sociologists, and politicians, it became evident that Iran’s Islamic Revolution maintains unique features, which cannot be analyzed with the existing views and theories of West’s Humanities. The Professor of Sociology at the University of California, John Foran, has authored a number of books and articles about the Islamic Revolution of Iran. In one of his articles he points out: Should we study Iran’s revolution as a unique case, in contrast to other revolutions, or should we revise our perceived reasons behind revolutions upon considering and studying Iran’s Islamic Revolution?

He notes that theories on revolutions have been challenged with the emergence of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, while declaring that upon this development in Iran, “we have been witness to a revolution in these theories.” John Foran believes that the fourth generation of theories on revolutions and even within social sciences has emerged with the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

MR/ME