New dress code in Iran: Jews and Christians must wear badges

[MrVisible]

The original article on this subject was a complete fabrication. The author of the story, Amir Taheri, is standing by it, but has no evidence or sources that will corroborate his story. The paper that printed the original column has issued a retraction. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the draft of the law that was being discussed, and confirmed that all it did was encourage Iranians to wear Islamic clothing. The whole story was complete disinformation.

A good overview:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Ir...aw_controversy

And another:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0525/dailyUpdate.html

It may interest some of you to know that Amir Taheri was invited to the White House on Tuesday to offer his 'expert' opinion on Iran.

So we're being fed inflammatory disinformation in order to get us to start a pre-emptive war in the middle east. This sounds oddly familiar...

Originally Posted by Heinlein

A generation which ignores history has no past -- and no future.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by MrVisible

It may interest some of you to know that Amir Taheri was invited to the White House on Tuesday to offer his 'expert' opinion on Iran.

That's not what the briefing said. Wouldn't want to get a story only partly right...:-)

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

That's not what the briefing said.

Yes it is:

Q Can you give us a readout on the President's meeting this morning with the Iraq experts?
MR. SNOW: Yes. Oh, my goodness, I forgot to bring the list. But actually -- do you have the list, Fred? Yes, it was an interesting meeting. What you ended up having was -- I've got all the names but one written down here. We had Wayne Downing, Barry McCaffrey, Michael Vickers, Amir Taheri, Fouad Ajami and Raad Alkadiri. And you had a combination there of military men and also scholars who are students of Iraq. And it was an interesting discussion that touched upon cultural issues, on political issues, on the state of affairs in Iraq. You had a number of people who've been there recently, General McCaffrey having returned just last month from his latest visit. Fouad Ajami last year had the occasion to sit down and speak with the Ayatollah Sistani, Ali al Sistani.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

Yes it is:

No, it isn't.

You do know the difference between Iraq and Iran?

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

No, it isn't.

You do know the difference between Iraq and Iran?

My apologies, I read it too fast, and concentrated more on "expert" than "Iraq".