Both Sides Against the Middle

The up side: Iranians hate Saddam
The down side: Iranians hate America

Ha'aretz reports that Shiite Iranian protesters, supportive of their oppressed brethren in Iraq (and perhaps bitter about the 1980's bloodletting between Iraq and Iran), stormed the Iraqi embassy in Teheran. They tore down posters of Saddam, smashed furniture and windows, and chanted militant slogans. Among those was "Death to America", just to make perfectly clear that their enemy's enemy is not indeed their friend.

One thing that has long puzzled me about Islamic purists is their apparent ease in ignoring the Koranic prohibition on images of people. All over the Middle East - including Iran - their are pictures and statues of leaders all over public places. The protesters in Teheran were carrying pictures of Ayatollah Mohammad Bakir Hakim, leader of the Iranian-based Supreme Council for the Revolution in Iraq. I've never seen personalities in the U.S. glorified by images nearly as much as in the Islamic world, and I think that's a pretty strong indictment of those who claim to be the defenders of Islam.