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Jewish World Review Jan. 9, 2003 / 6 Shevat, 5763

Michael Ledeen

Ledeen
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Consumer Reports


Fish are Better than Women: Gauging U.S. priorities.


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | A week ago we came back from Europe with some Iranian caviar, and we got a stern lecture from the Customs folks at Dulles Airport. It turns out that Iranian sturgeons are on the "endangered species" list, and so you can't import their eggs. "A fish had to be killed for you to get this caviar," we were told.

Fair enough, but it's peculiar that the Bush administration cares more about Iranian fish than about Iranian people. Just yesterday, for example, Iranian women tried to demonstrate against the blatant sexism of the regime by burning their scarves in public. This was too much for the mullahs, who filled the public squares all over the country with uniformed and plainclothes security forces, which moved quickly to prevent large numbers of people - the women and their men folk who came to protect them - from assembling. When the women insisted, as they did in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, and other cities, the thugs quickly started their routine of beatings, arrests, and curses.

When the Iranian people have finally brought down this disgusting regime, scholars will marvel at the elegance of the slogans that are now routinely chanted in the streets of the country. "Down with the Taliban, in Kabul and Tehran," is one of my favorites, and yesterday the women chanted "No head coverings, and no head slappings," a phrase that, I am told, is far more meaningful in Farsi because "head slapping" is a slang expression for the humiliation of victims.

It's no surprise that the so-called feminists - including very knowledgeable female journalists like Elaine Sciolino at the New York Times and Robin Wright at the Los Angeles Times have been thunderously silent about the systematic repression of Iranian women. By now we've learned that the feminazis only get upset when Westerners challenge their absolutist views on child care, salaries-just-like-the-men, college sports, or abortion. But I continue to marvel at the steadfast silence of the Department of State, whether the Human Rights Bureau or Secretary Powell and Deputy Secretary Armitage. We are engaged in a war against tyrannies that sponsor terrorism, and our most potent weapons are political. Yet the State Department is afraid to brandish them.

Women are beaten and arrested because they want to be free, and we do nothing. But our watchdogs are on the alert for activity threatening the well being of Iranian fish.

Go figure.


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JWR contributor Michael Ledeen is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of, most recently, The War Against the Terror Masters. Comment by clicking here.

Up

01/07/03: The Shape of Things to Come: The terror masters are now waiting for us
12/20/02: A Prophecy for the New Year --- Faster, please!
12/16/02: Scud Surrender: The "W" factor
12/13/02: The Heart of Darkness: The mullahs make terror possible
12/12/02: The Real War
12/09/02: Tom Friedman's Reformation: His Iran
11/26/02: How Tyrannies Fall: Opportunity time in Iran
11/22/02: The Blind Leading the Blind: The New York Times and the Iranian crisis
11/13/02: The Temperature Rises: We should liberate Iran first --- now
11/05/02: End of the Road: Iran's Mohammed Khatami, on his way out
10/29/02: The Angleton Dialogues, Contnued: What George Tenet doesn’t know
10/24/02: The Iranian Comedy Hour: In the U.S., the silence continues
10/16/02: Sniper, Saboteur, or Sleeper? Channeling James Jesus Angleton
10/01/02: The real foe
09/27/02: The Iranian String Quartet: The mullahs get increasingly nervous
09/25/02: The Dubya Doctrine
09/23/02: Intelligence? What intelligence?
09/12/02: America's revenge: To turn tyrannies into democracies
09/10/02: Iran & Afghanistan & Us: We'll have to deal with the mullahcracy, sooner or later
09/04/02: Iran, according to the Times: All the nonsense that's fit to print
08/21/02: Life and death of Abu Nidal tells us a great deal about our enemies
08/08/02: Can You Keep a Secret?: The media silence on Iran
08/06/02: Fantasy Reporting: The latest disinformation from the Washington Post
08/02/02: Propping Up the Terror Masters: Europe's Solana on tour
07/16/02: Bush vs. the Mullahs: Getting on the side of the Iranian freedom fighters
07/12/02: The State Department Goes Mute: It's official: State has no message
07/09/02: History being made, but the West appears clueless
06/05/02: Is George Tenet endangering peace in Israel?
06/03/02: Ridiculous, even for a journalist
05/20/02: So how come nobody's been fired yet?
05/14/02: Open doors for thugs
04/20/02: Iran on the Brink … and the U.S. does nothing
04/16/02: It’s the war, stupid … someone remind Colin Powell
04/08/02: Gulled: In the Middle East, Arafat doesn't matter
04/02/02: Faster, Please: The war falters
03/26/02: The Revolution Continues: What's brewing in Iran
03/18/02: Iran simmers still: Where's the press?
03/05/02: We can't lose any more ground in Iran
02/14/02: The Great Iranian Hoax
02/12/02: Unnoticed Bombshell: Key information in a new book
01/31/02: The truth behind the Powell play
01/29/02: My past with "Johnny Jihad's" lawyer
01/21/02: It's Munich, all over again
01/08/02: What's the Holdup?: It's time for the next battles in the war against terrorism
12/11/01: We must be imperious, ruthless, and relentless
12/06/01: Remembering my family friend, Walt Disney
11/28/01: The Barbara Olson Bomb: Understanding the war
11/13/01: How We're Doing: The Angleton Files, IV
11/06/01: A great revolutionary war is coming
10/25/01: How to talk to a terrorist
10/23/01: Creative Reporting: Learning to appreciate press briefings
10/19/01: Not the Emmys: A Beltway award presentation
10/15/01: Rediscovering American character
10/11/01: Somehow, I've missed Arafat's praise of the first stage of our war on terrorism
10/04/01: What do we not know?
09/28/01: Machiavelli On Our War: Some advice for our leaders
09/25/01: No Room for the U.N.: Keeping Annan & co. out of the picture
09/21/01: Creative destruction
09/14/01: Who Killed Barbara Olson?
08/22/01: How Israel will win this war
08/15/01: Bracing for war
08/09/01: More Dithering Democrats
08/02/01: Delirious Dems
07/31/01: Consulting a legendary counterspy about Chandra and Condit, cont'd
07/19/01: Be careful what you wish for
07/17/01: Consulting a legendary counterspy about Chandra and Condit
07/05/01: Let Slobo Go
05/30/01: Anybody out there afraid of the Republicans?
05/09/01: The bad guys to the rescue
05/07/01: Bye-bye, Blumenthal
04/20/01: Handling China
04/11/01: EXAM TIME!
04/05/01: Chinese over-water torture
03/27/01: Fighting AIDS in Africa is a losing proposition
03/14/01: Big Bird, Oscar, and other threats
03/09/01: Time for a good, old-fashioned purge
03/06/01: Powell’s great (mis)adventure
02/26/01: The Clinton Sopranos
02/20/01: Unity Schmoonity: Sharon is defying the will of the people
01/30/01: The Rest of the Rich Story
01/22/01: Ashcroft the Jew
01/11/01: A fitting close to the Clinton years
12/26/00: Continuing Clinton's shameful legacy
12/21/00: Clinton’s gift for Bush

© 2001, Michael Ledeen