Threegremlins, if you'd like me to start a new topic about this, I will, but you're way off-base regarding the Shah and Iran. Let's not forget that in the 1950s the democratically-elected leader of Iran, Mossadeg, was deposed by forces orchestrated by the CIA. European/American manipulation of Iran goes back even farther, to the early 20th century, when the Brits grabbed up rights to a lot of their oil...the Shah was a puppet installed by the US, nothing more. The Revolution in Iran was inevitable.

Unfortunately, like many revolutions (not all, not even most), it got out of control. Radicals committed barbaric acts (embassy hostage situation) and the leaders of the Islamic Revolution refused to end the situation because they thought the people supported the acts of the radicals.

As pathetic as it is, Iran has the most vibrant democracy in the Middle East today (with the possible exception of Israel, but I'm leaving them out of this because the focus should be on Arabs and Persians here).

But I'll happy to point you to some more sources if you're interested in the development of imperialist/colonialist policy toward Iran through the 20th and 21st centuries. Iran is not the problem today and never really was.