“U.S. IS BEST EXAMPLE OF FREEDOM” — yeah, but look who’s saying it:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The name is the same, but the words from the younger Ayatollah Khomeini’s mouth could hardly be more jolting for those who remember his grandfather’s explosive revolution in Iran with the chants of “Death to America!”

“America” says Ayatollah Seyed Hussein Khomeini, “is the symbol of freedom.”

Seated in the sprawling living room of his temporary Baghdad home, where he lives under armed guard, Khomeini says, “The best example of freedom in our life now is America, especially its Constitution.”

Khomeini, 45, the oldest grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, slipped out of Iran in early July and, he says, now lives under risk of assassination by Iranian security agents. His arrival in Iraq has caused a stir in the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

But the younger Khomeini is determined that Iraq does not relive Iran’s revolution.

“Religion has got to be separated from regimes, such as it is in America,” says the younger Khomeini, smoking cigarettes through the interview.

Indeed.

UPDATE: And here’s a call for political reform in Syria. (Via OxBlog). Hmm. Seems like the invasion of Iraq has affected attitudes in the region — you certainly wouldn’t have seen this sort of thing a year ago.