I can't
believe it took this long for the Likudite Canwest Global to descend to
the eye-poking, nostril-gouging level it has in it's smear assault
against "evil" Iran, as sinisterly personified singularly in the person
of its president, another Hitler in the making, who given half a chance
would create a nuclear-tipped missile to set fire to the world
beginning in Israel.
And he hates Jews, we're daily told; he would have them all wear badges, immolate the nation, etc...
Yet, the story is bullshit.
Phony
as Saddam's WMD, the National Post published a pack of lies, lies told
at a time when the rally cry to an unprovoked war of conquest and
occupation in a far off land is the goal of a furious lobbying campaign
in America, and around the world.
Fake as the babies thrown from
Kuwaiti incubators, (abandoned to die on the cold, cold hospital floor,
etc...) used to "justify" the first Gulf War, the Post's 'Iran Eyes
Badges for Jews, Christians?' is an incitement to disgust, fear, and
the loathing of Iran, and its people; of course, the ones likely to suffer should
another front in the War on Terror be allowed opened.
Hate Crime
Unlike
America, Canada has laws against crimes of incitement to hatred of
identifiable groups, based on ethnic, gender, or sexual orientation
parameters. What are Persian-Canadians, and the greater Muslim
population of Canada to make of the Post's story? What effects might
they suffer at the long-knuckled hands of the National Post's
misinformed readership? Will hasty on-line retractions of page one
libel suffice to defer legal proceedings, or government censure?
Canada's
newly arrived prime minister, Harper responded to questions from the
Canwest reporter tasked to refute the front page fiasco, saying simply:
"Unfortunately
we've seen enough already from the Iranian regime to suggest that it is
very capable of this kind of action. It boggles the mind that any
regime on the face of the earth would want to do anything that would
remind people of Nazi Germany."
Yes Stephen, it boggles the mind to be sure.
I'll remember to check the recycling box for a front page copy tomorrow to hang beside the yellowed CanWest call to arms against Iraq already pinned to my wall.
[I
generally highlight links to sources, but as Canwest is apparently in
"purge splurge" mode, these below are the raw materials I found as of
time of writing. And, Victorians may be interested to read their
"Liberal" MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca's bold question to the
government on this issue, as I found it recorded at Babble.ca - lex]
from
Babble.ca - posted by SGM - I nominate Liberal MP Keith Martin to win
the Award for Hysterical Overreaction to a Non-story, based on the
questions he asked of Peter MacKay in the House of Commons yesterday:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hon.
Keith Martin (Esquimalt?Juan de Fuca, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I appreciate
the comments from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister,
but he must also recognize that this is Hitler's shadow stalking the
earth, that this is the same regime in Iran that has denied the
Holocaust and has state sponsored persecution of members of the Baha'i
faith. Quite frankly, words are not enough.
I ask the Minister of
Foreign Affairs if, at the very least, he has called in the Iranian
ambassador to Canada to express Canada's disgust over these actions in
Iran.
And:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hon.
Keith Martin (Esquimalt?Juan de Fuca, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, Canada's
response must be focused, clear, strong and unequivocal. I ask the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, will he bring the matter up at the United
Nations Security Council? If this comes to pass, will he then call for
an international ban on the purchase of Iranian oil?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A matter for the Security Council?
Glad you've got things in perspective, Dr. Martin.
CanWest Goebbels Plays the Holocaust Card
by ape ? Friday May 19, 2006 at 07:13 PM
Dismembering the Holocaust
photo http://www.canada.com/scripts/frontpage.aspx?name=National+Post&thumb=false
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6626a0fa-99de-4f1e-aebe-bb91af82abb3
Experts say report of badges for Jews in Iran is untrue
A yellow badge [as]worn by Jews in Nazi
Germany during the 1940s.
(MICHAEL KAPPELER/AFP/Getty Images)
Chris Wattie, National Post
Published: Friday, May 19, 2006
Several
experts are casting doubt on reports that Iran had passed a law
requiring the country?s Jews and other religious minorities to wear
coloured badges identifying them as non-Muslims.
The Iranian embassy in Otttawa also denied the Iranian government had passed such a law.
A
news story and column by Iranian-born analyst Amir Taheri in
yesterday?s National Post reported that the Iranian parliament had
passed a sweeping new law this week outlining proper dress for Iran?s
majority Muslims, including an order for Jews, Christians and
Zoroastrians to wear special strips of cloth.
According to the
reports, Jews were to wear yellow cloth strips, called zonnar, while
Christians were to wear red and Zoroastrians blue.
The Simon
Wiesenthal Centre and Iranian expatriates living in Canada had
confirmed that the order had been passed, although it still had to be
approved by Iran?s ?Supreme Guide? Ali Khamenehi before being put into
effect.
Hormoz Ghahremani, a spokesman for the Iranian Embassy
in Ottawa, said in an e-mail to the Post yesterday that, ?We wish to
categorically reject the news item.
?These kinds of slanderous
accusations are part of a smear campaign against Iran by vested
interests, which needs to be denounced at every step.?
Sam
Kermanian, of the U.S.-based Iranian-American Jewish Federation, said
in an interview from Los Angeles that he had contacted members of the
Jewish community in Iran ? including the lone Jewish member of the
Iranian parliament ? and they denied any such measure was in place.
Mr.
Kermanian said the subject of ?what to do with religious minorities?
came up during debates leading up to the passing of the dress code law.
?It is possible that some ideas might have been thrown around,?
he said. ?But to the best of my knowledge the final version of the law
does not demand any identifying marks by the religious minority
groups.?
Ali Reza Nourizadeh, an Iranian commentator on
political affairs in London, suggested that the requirements for badges
or insignia for religious minorities was part of a ?secondary motion?
introduced in parliament, addressing the changes specific to the attire
of people of various religious backgrounds.
Mr. Nourizadeh said that motion was very minor and was far from being passed into law.
That account could not be confirmed.
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.?
Mr.
Javdanfar said that not all clauses of the law had been passed through
the parliament and said the requirement that Jews, Christians and
Zoroastrians wear special insignia might be part of an older version of
the Islamic dress law, which was first written two years ago.
?In
any case, there is no way that they could have forced Iranian Jews to
wear this,? he added. ?The Iranian people would never stand for it.?
However,
Mr. Kermanian added that Jews in Iran still face widespread, systematic
discrimination. ?For example if they sell food they have to identify
themselves and their shops as non-Muslim,? he said.
Rabbi
Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles,
acknowledged that he did not have independent confirmation of the
requirement for Jews to wear badges, but said he still believes it was
passed.
?We know that the national uniform law was passed and
that certain colours were selected for Jews and other minorities,? he
said. ?[But] if the Iranian government is going to pass such a law then
they are not likely to be forthcoming about what they are doing.?
Stephen
Harper, the Prime Minister, said yesterday that Iran is ?very capable?
of enacting such a law but could not confirm reports that members of
religious minorities must wear identifiable markers on their clothing.
?Unfortunately
we?ve seen enough already from the Iranian regime to suggest that it is
very capable of this kind of action,? Mr. Harper said. ?It boggles the
mind that any regime on the face of the earth would want to do anything
that would remind people of Nazi Germany.?
National Post, with files from Allan Woods, CanWest News Service
Canada's National Post broke a sensational story; a story so big, the flagship of the CanWest Global media monolith denied its nationwide dailies, keeping the scoop to themselves. 
