More On Iran, Julian "Guantanamo Is Auschwitz" Assange, and Aisha.

James Kirchick, whom I've long admired, has pointed out one of the unintended benefits of WikiLeaks' archgeek Julian Assange's grossly irresponsible but otherwise spectacularly successful act of sticking it to the man, here.

Assange believes that by leaking information about the frustrated war effort in Afghanistan, he will sap American will. In truth, by revealing the extent of Iranian aid to Sunni radicals, he only confirmed what astute observers have long known.

That is, we've been at war with Iran for years. It is a war declared by Iran, which has been killing our soldiers and allies in various theaters. But it is a war a reluctant America has refused to recognize it is fighting. Perhaps the WikiLeaks deluge will change that complacency. . .

I'm not counting on anyone's complacency being disturbed, but it is gratifying that the Khomeinists' sinister influence in Afghanistan, which I've been on about for a while, (and which one doesn't have to be especially astute to know about) is coming to some wider notice.

As for Aisha, the 18-year-old Afghan woman whose impertinence has so upset the stoppists who consider themselves her betters, the always clued-in Joshua Foust reminds one of her detractors:

The point isn’t when she was mutilated, but who ordered her mutilation, and who took a knife to her face. She was mutilated by the Taliban, and that the ragged holes where her nose and ears used to be are what the Taliban deign justice in regard to women and girls. More of that brutality is one of the results we would see from an expansion of Taliban control in Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch’s latest report about what women’s lives are like in Taliban-controlled areas now is a grim reminder that the Taliban are just as eager and willing to torture, terrorize and murder women as they were nine years ago.

As a bonus, here's Joshua's take on the Wikileaks' caper:

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