This is disgusting:
More news is emerging of the sad public hanging of the 16-year old girl in Iran. To recap:On Sunday August 15, 2004, a 16 year old girl by the name of Atefe Rajabi, daughter of Ghassem Rajabi, was executed in the town of Neka, located in the province of Mazandaran, for "engaging in acts incompatible with chastity". The execution was carried out by the order of Neka's "judicial administrator" and was approved by both the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic and the chief of the nation's "judiciary branch."
Although according to her birth certificate she was only 16 years old, the local court falsely claimed that she was 22.
Like the destruction of the Bamiyah Buddhas in Afghanistan, this act, atrocious as it is, does not justify a US invasion of Iran on humanitarian grounds. If that were the primary concern, it would be the business of the Iranian people to take care of their own problems. But as Roger Simon points out,
It would be interesting if our media confronted the presidential candidates with questions about Iran. As most of us realize, the Islamic Republic which practices this barbarism is on the edge of nuclear weapons, if not already over it. What issue could be more important?
I should think no American needs reminding that Iran has in effect declared war on the US, or is their seizure of our embassy there not remembered?
Posted by Craig Ceely at August 27, 2004 10:27 PM