The unpredictability of revolutions is a lesson that never makes much of an impression on leaders who think that they can manipulate history through force, maintains Charles Kurzman, associate professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), April, 2005

The unpredictability of revolutions is a lesson that never makes much of an impression on leaders who think that they can manipulate history through force, maintains Charles Kurzman, associate professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since the U.S. seems to be planning a long-term military presence in Iraq, recalling the unpopularity of American military personnel in neighboring Iran a quarter-century ago is worthwhile.

"Then, as now, United States officials frequently had difficult relations with the locals and were much resented for their extra-territorial legal status, which shielded them from having to obey local law," Kurzman cautions.