Iran's announced intention to force non—Muslims to wear an identifying badge is causing many to make the comparison to Hitler and the Nazis, who forced Jews to wear badges in the shape of the Star of David.

But our contributor Dr. Andrew Bostom pointed out for me that the roots for this lie much further back than Hitler, to Iran's own sad legacy of Shi'ite orthodoxy which dates to Shah Ismail and the year 1502.

Usually a comparison to the Nazis overstates the evil being castigated, and dinimishes the Holocaust. The reintroduction of past oppression of dhimmis is one of those rare instances when the profound evil involved is actually older than the Holocaust, and has its own terrible root.

Thomas Lifson  5 19 06