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November 21, 2002 9:00 a.m. The Blind Leading the Blind The New York Times and the Iranian crisis.

here are none so blind as those who will not see, and the New York Times refuses to see what is going on in Iran. Just two days ago, as protests spread from college campuses into the streets of all major Iranian cities, the newspaper's editorialists bloviated "Iran's pro-reform majority...is bravely pushing back," and then pretended that the massive demonstrations were simply aimed at a "redress (of) the balance between the popularly elected government and the self-appointed religious establishment," mainly through restraining "judicial extremism" and "religious extremists." The Times ended by calling on parliament to pass two reform bills. Get it? We have our Ashcroft, and they have theirs.

The students now risking their lives in Iran are not calling for new legislation; they are demanding an end to the regime of the Islamic republic. Each time the thugs of the regime charge onto University land, the students chant "Death to the Taliban, in Kabul and Tehran," not "pass the laws, pass the laws." And as the demonstrations have grown larger, from old women marching in Tehran to workers striking in several cities around the country, they repeatedly demand a national referendum on the entire political system.

The demonstrators don't want reform at all; they want revolution, and the frightful violence with which the regime is responding shows that the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, fully understands the situation, despite his widely rumored recourse to abundant quantities of opium to keep his spirits up. He sees his authority under lethal assault, and not just from young students. On the 12th of November, for example, a 21-year-old man was hung from a crane in the holy city of Qom — the stronghold of the country's religious authorities — and the body was left in public view for a full ten hours. It was the first time in years that such a thing had happened, and was clearly intended as a warning to the religious leaders of Qom, many of whom have been openly critical of the regime.

The tempo of public executions is increasing daily, along with brutal beatings, mass arrests, and other forms of intimidation, suggesting that this regime is prepared to kill anyone who stands in its way. But there are also signs that the mullahs' will to power may be beginning to weaken.

The catalyst for the latest demonstrations was the remarkable sentence handed down in Western Iran against a history teacher named Hashem Agajari. He received a death sentence, a prison sentence, and a sentence to 74 lashes, a punishment so preposterous that it made the judiciary a laughingstock. In the face of the protests, Khamenei suggested that the sentence might be reconsidered if Agajari appealed the decision.

It was the first time the regime had blinked under pressure, and Agajari refused to give them a convenient way out: He will not appeal. They will have to make their own decisions. He will die rather than ask that his sentence be reconsidered.

Days after the protests swept the country, our secretary of state, who had been shamefully silent about the evils of the Iranian regime, quietly bemoaned the refusal of the mullahs to listen to the voice of their people, and expressed the hope that relations between the two countries might improve if the regime were more responsive to the people's wishes. Powell's words were reiterated on Wednesday by departmental spokesman Philip Reeker, who noted that the Iranian people "are sending a message that they're looking for a change in the way they're being governed, and an opportunity for a different or a better life."

An understatement worthy of the New York Times.

Meanwhile, the administration has decided that it's time to junk the Farsi-language broadcasts of the Voice of America, and it's going to be replaced with something called "Radio Tomorrow," featuring popular music interspersed with occasional news items. One cannot imagine more unfortunate timing. We should be increasing our substantive broadcasting to Iran, not diminishing it. And we should support the Iranian people in their desperate struggle for freedom.

National Security Adviser Rice has spoken of a democratic transformation of the Muslim Middle East. Iran is the key country in the region, and it is bubbling with democratic desire, but this administration is responding with carefully chosen diplobabble and resolutely refuses to engage in the real battle. To what end her excellent words, if she cannot get serious action out of her colleagues?

The war against the terror masters — of whom the most-lethal govern the Islamic Republic of Iran — is a war against tyranny, a revolutionary war whose main component should be political. President Bush understands this, but he has so far failed to insist that his administration take concrete steps to accomplish it. We are gearing up for a military campaign against Iraq, which, even if it is necessary is only a part of the strategy for the broad war in which we are engaged. Iran can be liberated without firing a shot, dropping a bomb, or risking the lives of American soldiers. It is everything this country should stand for, even without the background of September 11 and the constant threat of renewed terrorist attacks against us and our allies.

Faster, please. A free Iran will change the world.

— Michael Ledeen's new book, The War Against the Terror Masters, has just been published by St Martin's Press.