IRAN IS THE NEW NAZI GERMANY!!!... Or Something.

When I went online Friday morning, I saw this as the top headline on Drudge-





Even though Drudge has been posting these fearmongering (and often misleading) headlines for almost a year, this story seemed so horrific that it quickly spread. Within a few hours, I saw it posted on the Huffington Post, Andrew Sullivan's blog, and other sites. This seemed pretty significant, a step way over the line, and too familiar historically.

Fortunately for everyone (particularly Iranian Jews and Christians), it is not true.

940 Montreal is reporting that "independent reporter Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli Middle East expert who was born and raised in Tehran, says the report is false... 'Nowhere in the law is there any talk of Jews and Christians having to wear different colours. I've checked it with sources both inside Iran and outside,' [he said]". The AP report further indicates that the original story was false.

For what its worth, the original link for the story that Drudge posted is now a blank page. In addition, his posting on it is completely removed from his site without mention. Much like the Bush administration and their 2002 claims that Iraq and Al Qaeda were connected, perhaps it seems so embarrassing in retrospect, he'd rather pretend it never happened. Unlike that example, though, I think Drudge probably believed the information he put out... if only, in part, because it fit his predeterminded agenda.

We still don't have a definitive answer on where this story originated from, but the facts so far indicate it is indeed false. This is not to say that the Iran regime is squeaky clean (their feelings on Israel are well known), but I think that this incident shows that as our government's hyped-up conflict with that nation escalates, we can expect as shameful a misinformation campaign was we got on Iraq in 2002/2003.

Too bad Judy Miller has left the NY Times. Cheney loved those above-the-fold headlines.

[PS- Not wanting to be fooled again, Senate Democrats today "called for a new National Intelligence Estimate to be undertaken on Iran". Good for them. They're becoming proactive on these important issues and that's an encouraging sign. ]