"The revolutionary government must I act like a thunderbolt," wrote Maximilien Robespierre, the acknowledged chief of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution. Throughout history, revolution has al most always been followed by a period of vengeance and terror in the name of justice. The American Revolution was a notable exception. But by comparison with the mass bloodshed that followed the French and Russian revolutions, not to mention Mao Tse-tung's conquest of China, the summary actions of Iran's new Islamic Revolutionary Court might even be considered restrained.
The classic Reign...