I have never said that we should never criticize Iran today, let alone Iraq under Saddam Hussein. I myself have criticized it on several occasions (for instance, regarding Iran's Iraq policy at <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070423/008390.html>), and you'll be able to gather from my postings here the kind of data missing from the corporate media (for instance, with regard to class inequality in Iran's death penalty application at <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20070430/008559.html>).
Criticism has to be based on facts, not on the dominant discourse that simply demonizes the country minus facts.
The Islamic government of Iran and the former Ba'athist government of Iraq, however, are not in the same league, when it comes to room for democracy by the prevailing standards in the Middle East, or perhaps the South in general. Can US leftists see that? Apparently they can't.
Moreover, US leftists' job in an anti-sanctions campaign and the like is to present the aspects of nations in the South that are missing in or distorted by or marginalized in the corporate media, so Americans can learn more about them and get motivated to seek normal relations with them, overcoming the White House and Congress's propaganda. If all leftists are saying is the same thing as the corporate media or even worse, what's the point of listening to leftists? Why not all just read the New York Times, watch ABC, etc.? -- Yoshie