The following is the full text of the speech delivered on October 13, 2011 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a meeting with the families of martyrs and war veterans of Kermanshah province.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I am thankful to Allah the Exalted who gave me this opportunity today to be present in this great meeting. On my trips to different cities, as far as I am concerned one of the greatest and most important meetings is the meetings that are arranged with the honorable families of our martyrs and war veterans. The reason is that there is such greatness in self-sacrifice that no society can achieve glory and dignity in the absence of it. We usually fail to see all the aspects and dimensions of the martyrdom of our martyrs and the self-sacrifices of our war veterans. This is while engaging in self-sacrifice in society, which might lead to martyrdom or physical disabilities, has many different meanings and dimensions. There are many aspects to this self-sacrifice, each of which is worthy of analysis. One of these aspects is identifying the opportunities that present themselves and responding to the needs of the moment. Some people might have a sense of responsibility, yet they may fail to identify their responsibility and take action at the right time. This is very different from taking action when needed. The brave, proud, pious and selfless youth who identified the needs of the country and welcomed the dangers, those youth had an outstanding characteristic: they identified the needs at the right time and they responded to those needs. This is a crucial aspect and a lesson for us.
Yesterday I mentioned that one month after the victory of the Revolution the youth of Kermanshah felt that they were needed in the battlefields. Shahid Sayyid Mohammad Ja'fari - the pioneering and outstanding martyr - and his friends prepared themselves to go and defend the military base of Sanandaj Army. They understood the significance of this defense. They understood the significance of preventing the anti-revolutionary elements from capturing one of our military bases. This ability to identify the needs quickly and to take action to address them at the right time is the important point that must not be ignored.
All of our dear martyrs across the country had this characteristic. The dear friends and brothers mentioned the names of certain cities and recounted memories of the defense lines that had been formed in this province. Of course, there were people from all parts of the country. There were prominent people from other parts of the country who were martyred in this province. However, we must not ignore the role of the people of this province, the role of the pious youth of Kermanshah, the role of the exceptional and valuable characteristics that those youth had: their vigilance and their ability to identify the opportunities. And these characteristics are exactly what we have always needed and what will always need.
Different countries and societies are often harmed because they fail to identify the opportunities. When the enemies lie in ambush and we fail to notice this or fail to take action to deal with the situation at the right time, we get harmed.
The dear brother who spoke in this meeting made a good point. He said that Iranian families believed that if they failed to send their youth to the battlefield, they would have to fight against the enemies in the streets. This is a very important point: it is the same point that has also been mentioned by the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.): any community of people who fail to take action while the enemy is coming and are forced to push the enemy out of their homes, will be defeated. It is necessary to identify enemy attacks from a distance. Before the imposed war, certain people should have realized that a war was about to break out. In Tehran, there were constant reports that the enemy forces were being deployed in Kermanshah and Ilam and those activities were mostly in Kermanshah. Our politicians used to dismiss those reports, saying that there were no such military activities in the country. This continued until the enemy dropped bombs on Tehran. In fact, the war did not break out on Shahrivar 31, 1359: that was the time when Tehran was bombarded and the war had already started. If the officials who were in charge of the affairs of our country at that time - the same people who proved later on that they were not competent enough to run the country - had identified the threat and prepared the country for the war, those things would not have happened to Khorramshahr, Qasr-e Shirin and certain other border cities.
That initial lack of vigilance caused such a tragic atmosphere in this region and the Khuzestan region. I witnessed some of the events up close and they were so tragic that I cannot erase them from my memory. When the people are in charge, when the people are given the opportunity to enter the arena with their capacities, such lack of vigilance would not happen. But they would not allow this at that time. In these areas, groups of people would come together here and there and they would start defending the country after going through a lot of trouble to gather weapons. Our government officials were unhappy about this and they would complain in their official meetings why the people of certain place had gathered weapons. A number of youth were defending the country and this was what they could not tolerate. This is a lesson for us.
As I pointed out yesterday, a government like the Islamic Republic - with such ideals, with such goals, with such great claims - which is opposed to oppression, arrogance and the arrogant greed of the international powers, would naturally face different kinds of challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to be prepared. This preparedness depends on religious faith of the people more than anything else. Awareness of the people is a great protective wall that helps a nation defend its identity and dignity and protects it against the machinations of Satan. We experienced this during the war. Today the same thing will happen in every sector and in every field of endeavor where there are vigilant officials who are prepared to give the people a role to play.
Our government is an Islamic republic: it is a democracy, an Islamic democracy. Our democracy has a genuine meaning - it is not just a ceremonial gesture. Our martyrs and disabled war veterans as well as their families passed the most difficult test on this path. The great patience, which was shown by the families of our martyrs, is very valuable. If the families of our martyrs and soldiers had not shown patience and understanding and if they had displayed a lack of insight, the atmosphere of self-sacrifice would not have lasted. Hearts do not remain eager for self-sacrifice forever. The families of our martyrs and soldiers showed patience. Many years have passed since the Sacred Defense Era, but the door of martyrdom is not yet closed. We still see certain families whose dear ones are martyred for different reasons. If a nation enjoys such insight and such patience, it will definitely reach the peaks.
We never wavered in identifying our goals and determining the path to reach them. We never wavered in our faith in the path we had chosen and we are thankful to Allah the Exalted for this. Allah the Exalted never let our hearts lose the light of hope and we saw with our own eyes that our hope was not false hope.
There was a day when it appeared to certain individuals that there was no hope for us, but there were insightful people - and our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) was the distinguished person among them - who would give us hope. Sometimes we would listen to them obediently, but we were not able to analyze the situation properly. We would simply accept their statements in an obedient way and we would find out later on that they were right. We would realize later on that the divine and spiritual hopes had been fulfilled. And today when we take a look at our 32-year experience after the Revolution, we constantly see the achievements that the Islamic Republic has accomplished.
In my meetings with the honorable families of our martyrs and war veterans, after expressing my appreciation and respect, I primarily try to tell our dear people that the spirit of self-sacrifice can save a country. The spirit of self-sacrifice and identifying the right time to fulfill one's duty can deliver a nation.
Fortunately today we can see the signs of progress and success in our country. We can see that we are moving forward. Of course, we need to make efforts. We need to work hard. Things are becoming subtler and more complex. Our people are far more vigilant than they used to be in the past. Thankfully there are many people in our society who are faithful, pious and committed to the ideals, which is the case with the honorable people of this province as well. In this province, all I have witnessed is magnanimity, pride and bravery. As I said yesterday, all I have seen in this province is heroic characteristics among both men and women.
It was mentioned in the meeting that a lady - a faithful and brave woman - had captured an enemy soldier during the war. There are so many manifestations of bravery in this province that one cannot mention all of them. Since the first day, the people of this region made sacrifices together with our military forces. We had brave and competent commanders from this province, Air Force commanders who would offer facilities and tactical support to Shahid Shiroudi and others in order to carry out those amazing operations, both in Army 81 and elsewhere. I met some of our brave and pious commanders in person in the Abuzar military base. They used to work so sincerely and so selflessly that they had filled the atmosphere of this region with the signs of sincerity, self-sacrifice, heroism and selflessness. And this is among the things that your province should feel proud of: it will remain for you. You were at the vanguard of the Sacred Defense. This province played a role in many of the achievements which were made during the Sacred Defense. You provided support and you made sacrifices. Allah the Exalted has bestowed worldly rewards - namely national dignity - on you and on the Iranian people. May He give you spiritual rewards as well.
This trip has been a very good and enjoyable trip for me because I found the opportunity to meet the honorable people of this province and see their happy and smiling faces. Yesterday I saw tens of thousands of happy and smiling faces in the streets, which shows that the people of this province are lively people. I hope our government officials will manage to do what is necessary in this province. There are many things that have to be done in this province. Kermanshah province has a lot of potential. There are also certain shortcomings and these shortcomings should be followed up and eliminated through the efforts of our government officials.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings