All Rummy, all the time


Which is more remarkable—that Karl Rove has kept his job until now or that Donald Rumsfeld has? He's all over the papers these days. Has he done enough damage yet? Apparently not. Here he is trying to stir up interest in yet another war.

For a little perspective on the Iran and terrorism idea, William O. Beeman, Professor of Anthropology and Director of Middle East Studies at Brown University, traces this history of Iran's "Support for Terrorism":

The United States government first began to identify Iran as a supporter of terrorist activities in 1984 under the Reagan administration. The accusations have grown more strident from year to year. On an annual basis the State Department has repeated accusations that Iran has supported virtually every terrorist attack in the world.

This is an astonishing exaggeration. In fact, Iran cannot be linked to any direct attack on the United States since the 444 day hostage crisis, which ended in 1981. The assertions of Iran's continued support for terrorism are prime examples of truth by repetition, used commonly by many conservative commentators, and myriads of U.S. legislators and officials-including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her recent European tour....

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