Khomeini: A Quest for Vengeance

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The first step for the U.S. is to deal forthrightly with the Palestinian question.

This, in fact, is exactly what Secretary of State George Shultz promised at his confirmation hearing last week. The Lebanese crisis had made it "painfully and to tally clear," Shultz told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that the "legitimate needs and problems" of the Palestinian people must be resolved. He might well have added that the West's failure to solve the Palestinian problem has had a lot to do with giving Islamic fundamentalism its anti-Western basis of action. The more ambitious Khomeini's forces become, and the more expansionist his goals in the name of Islam, the more vital it is that the U.S. have a Middle East policy that is perceived to be consistent and fair by all moderate parties in the Arab world.

—By William E. Smith. Reported by Murray J. Gart/Middle East and Dean Brelis/Baghdad