True Lies?
Saw a report on Andrew Olmsted’s blog today that, per Iranian expatriate Amir Taheri, the Iranian government was proposing to make non-Muslims wear little colored badges identifying them by their faith, an action that rouses repugnant associations. I felt duty-bound to blog about it because, much as I continue to think war with Iran would be a wildly stupid idea, it’s important to acknowledge when it engages in grotesquerie.
Comes the late evening and I see that Andrew, one of the most scrupulous bloggers going, has an update that the initial report may not be true.
UPDATE: Further categorical denials from Muslim Iranian government officials and diplomats and an Iranian Jewish legislator appear in Tarek al-Issawi’s report for the AP.
The National Post’s Chris Wattie follows up his own paper’s earlier report with even more denials. Excerpt:
Meir Javdanfar, an Israeli expert on Iran and the Middle East who was born and raised in Tehran, said yesterday that he was unable to find any evidence that such a law had been passed.
“None of my sources in Iran have heard of this,†he said. “I don’t know where this comes from.â€
Amir Taheri’s original article is three pages long. That’s a lot of detail, albeit, as one rereads the article, poorly sourced detail. There are no quotes from the law in translation, and the lone Iranian poobah quoted speaks largely of the dress requirements for Muslims. What I’m saying is, it’s very hard to believe Taheri’s article constitutes an innocent mistake. The smart bets are either that his story is correct, or that he lied. If you prefer, he was either right, or he wrote in reckless disregard of the truth.
For what it’s worth, Taheri is a fellow at Benador Associates, a public relations firm whose authors read like a Who’s Who of World War IV boosters, including James Woolsey, Laurie Mylroie, Richard Perle and, oh yes, Michael Ledeen (in his cover identity, at least). Jim Lobe wrote a profile of the firm’s founder, Eleana Benador, back when it was most noteworthy for its role in whipping up enthusiasm for war with Iraq.
The story of course doesn’t need to be true to help whip up enthusiasm for war with Iran. It just has to get into circulation. But it will be interesting to see whether and how completely the report stands or disintegrates over the next few days.
UPDATE: The hawkish Allahpundit has a good set of links, including CBSNews, which writes:
CBS News Radio has also decided against running the story, according to Exective Producer Charlie Kaye. “There are too many red flags here,” he says. “The best we can determine is this has originated with Iranian dissidents in Canada.”
When exile groups give you a story, you should check it sixteen times. They always have a vested interest in getting powerful foreign countries to remake the exiles’ home country to their liking. They may be right to want this, or they may be wrong. But it colors everything they say and do.
Comment by belle waring —
May 20, 2006 @ 2:48 am
can’t we somehow force taheri to shut up forever after this?
Trackback by Andrew Olmsted dot com —
May 20, 2006 @ 8:20 am
Iran’s Yellow Stars
I’ll note right off the bat that I’m not favorably inclined to arguments about Iran that compare it to Nazi Germany. It’s not that the lessons of the 1930s weren’t good lessons to learn, it’s that there are a lot…
Comment by Nell —
May 20, 2006 @ 8:24 am
Given the uniform record so far of clients and fellows of Benador Associates, I think that a source’s relationship with that organization is enough to relieve any serious reporter from the obligation even to check out any stories coming from them. Every single story they’ve told up to now that’s original to them has proved to be disinformation. Those who think this judgment too harsh are welcome to provide counterexamples.
Comment by Nell —
May 20, 2006 @ 8:28 am
Which is not to say that stories from other sources of atrocities committed by the Iranian authorities should be ignored. There’s plenty of horrible human rights abuses there without making stuff up.
In fact, the ’crying wolf’ nature of the Benador disinfo has the additional pernicious effect of making it easier for some people to reflexively suspect or deny any such reports.
Comment by Happy Jack —
May 20, 2006 @ 10:34 am
Iran, eh? I thought Taheri was an Iraq expert.
I wonder if his expertise extends to botany. I’m having some problems with a couple of Dappled Willows.
Comment by srv —
May 20, 2006 @ 3:50 pm
”When exile groups give you a story, you should check it sixteen times. ”
And look at the papers first to carry it. Here, the National Post, former Hollinger property. Perle was a board member until resigning quietly after Conrad Blacks problems. First the ”nuking Israel” stuff, then this. This is just the latest page in the war-drumming book, and LGF, RS and others are quick to parrot.
Now Judith Miller is trying to stage a comeback… Maybe she could blog at RS.
Comment by Jon H —
May 20, 2006 @ 11:41 pm
”Here, the National Post, former Hollinger property. Perle was a board member until resigning quietly after Conrad Blacks problems.”
It also turned up in the Jerusalem Post, another Hollinger (or ex-Hollinger) paper.
Comment by moonbiter —
May 21, 2006 @ 7:02 am
Yeah yeah; Iran, Iraq, it’s all the same as far as John Q. Public is concerned. I mean, come on, Taheri is a middle-easterny sounding name. He must be an expert on Iraqanistan.
At least, that’s what these enablers are counting on.
Comment by Gary Farber —
May 21, 2006 @ 12:06 pm
IJWTS that this is an admirable model of a post.
Comment by Al S E —
May 21, 2006 @ 3:03 pm
It has too often been mentioned that Amir Taheri, the slanderous article’s writer, is a member of Benador Associates and has written for this or that newspaper. But you need to go much further back in his career to understand who he is. As executive editor-in-chief of Iran’s main daily newspaper, Kayhan, between 1972 and 1979, he was very close to the Shah. The Revolution deprived him of his high position, and he has been taking revenge by writing lies and slanders ever since. His Wikipedia biography is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Taheri
Trackback by Dean's World —
May 22, 2006 @ 1:19 pm
sadly
I just lost all respect for Amir Taheri. His story on Iranian jews being forced to wear yellow stars