Speech [The chaos after the culmination of the Revolution and the need to remedy the situation]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

We must reflect upon what we have accomplished and thereafter what we have to accomplish and then what our duty is. What our nation has achieved is a miracle that could not have taken place on the basis of natural theories and principles. For, it was a nation that lived in fear of the secret police organization and its likes such that the very mention of the name of the organization (SAVAK) «2» would cause every individual to shudder; and secondly, it had nothing in its possession to confront with the great power. Nevertheless, it was transformed spiritually into another creature- a cowardly creature into a courageous one. A creature that was afraid of the shadow of the secret police was transformed into a creature that fought against the Shah and threw him out of the country. Thirdly, it had nothing in its armory while they had everything; and yet they accomplished a great feat. Well, now you have staged a revolution and achieved a great victory. After every revolution, there is a lot of chaos; and, praise be to Allah, the disorders present in our Revolution are very few although in itself, it is a lot. But when we compare them with the chaos that has followed revolutions in other countries all over the world, they are relatively few. Following this Revolution and any revolution that takes place, these chaos and turmoil are inevitable especially in relation to our Revolution and considering the destructions that they caused and the huge debts that they left behind and we inherited. They restricted the growth of our human resources; they bankrupted our economy; the armed forces emerged as a different entity; all the centers of power and organizations were in total disarray; while all the ministries were in a very sorry state.

And now that the Revolution has emerged victorious, you want that everything should be transformed instantaneously. It is not possible to transform everything all at once. For example, suppose we want to change all the existing ministries because all the current employees working there are of the previous taghouti regime and need to replace all of them by other individuals. These people worked for fifty years so that we would not have a single useful person to employ! Now the government faces the problem of what to do; it turns this side and that side, dismisses one, appoints another; if it decides to ask all of them to leave at once, there will be chaos; so they are taking steps one by one. The government is working hard day and night; it is sincere and hardworking; but this is an issue that must be rectified gradually. We must not expect everything to be resolved in such a short span of time and immediately after a regime has left destroying everything in the process and leaving behind a mountain of debts for the country! However, those who have set their greedy eyes on this country will not leave so soon; they hatch conspiracies; they furnish the means of corruption; they create the grounds for disorder and discontent; they prevent the tilling of the soil; they prevent harvesting of the produce; they burn the harvests. All these are issues that are present after every revolution. You must not allow your faith to be shaken; you must be strong; you have emerged triumphant; these people too are on their way out. But tolerance requires forbearance. You suffered oppression for fifty years and did not speak out; in fact, you did not dare to speak out because you could not speak out. For fifty years we all suffered at the hands of the city police and the armed forces and the gendarmerie forces and especially from the Organization. «3» We all suffered; your friends were imprisoned; your friends were tortured. It lasted for fifty years. Now, for fifty years these things were being done and you never demanded why they were happening. Whereas now it is five months- not even fifty months- since they have gone away and that too they went away after destroying so much. You must move ahead with the divine power and strength that God has granted to you. On one side the government, on one side all of you and on one side we all must hand-in-hand carry this movement forward; and if Allah wills, everything will be alright and these queries shall be answered. All the problems are acknowledged but they need time.

Now is the time to devote all your energies for drafting the constitution which is the foundation of the country. The foundation takes precedence over such issues. Now is the time to draft the constitution.

Think on which individuals to elect; they must be untainted individuals; individuals that are neither in favor of the East nor the West; who believe in the Islamic Republic system; who have faith in God; who are men of learning and so forth. If Allah wills, when the Council of Experts is formed, the constitution is drafted and the president elected, then all those issues will also be gradually resolved. Now the power is in your hands; and these remnants (from the previous regime) are not the sort of persons who can do anything. May God protect all of you and may you be successful.

May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.