Follow up to the debunked Iran story

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Well, the lefty blogosphere (of which I consider myself a member) has done a pretty good job in my opinion of linking the debunked Iran story (about forcing religious minorities to wear special clothing or badges) to the same crowd that pushed for an invasion of Iraq. A good summary can be found here. I'm glad we got on top of this quickly. As it is, I wonder how many people believe it.
 
Be on your guard for false memes unleashed for nefarious political purposes, folks! This is how the wingnuts move an idea from "unthinkably stupid" to "If you don't support it, you hate babies and God and Mom and America and Apple Pie."
 
The sad thing is, there was a time in the not-too-distant past when Iran looked like it was headed towrards moderation and reform. But high oil prices and Bush's "axis of evil" statement have put the kabosh on all that. (The despondent remarks of some anonymous State Department and CIA folks, including on Iran, are here.) How Bush could lump Iraq, Iran, and North Korea into an "axis" is ridiculous. Iran and Iraq fought a bitter, bloody war for 9 years from 1980-1989 (War Nerd calls it "The War Nobody Watched"). How could they be in an "axis"? Axis means an alliance, like the WWII axis powers.
 
Ironically, the administration now accuses Iran of meddling in Iraqi politics, and now has legitimate reason to fear an Iraq-Iran Shia "axis". It is ironic because we certainly had no qualms about meddling in Iraqi politics in a prett big way, and because our meddling (while it certainly did have some beneficial effects) made Iran's meddling possible.

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