Hayate No, an Iranian daily reformist newspaper, has shut its doors (temporarily, one hopes) due to public outcry over an American cartoon it printed. Many took the cartoon as an insult to that beloved old fascist nutbar, the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

Problem is, it's not Khomeini:

On Wednesday, the daily printed a caricature showing former US president Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) pressing his thumb to the head of a US Supreme Court justice.

However, many Iranians felt the justice -- shown as an old bearded man dressed in a long black robe -- bore a striking resemblance to the revered late leader of the Islamic revolution.

Hundreds of people staged a demonstration against the "insulting caricature" in the religious city of Qom Friday, while in Tehran scores of demonstrators gathered in front of Hayate No's offices.

When contemplating the long, difficult conflict of civilizations that lies ahead, it's reassuring to know just how stupid our opponents can be.

If anyone can find a link to the original cartoon, I'd love to attach it to an update to this entry, and possibly mirror it here.

UPDATE 2003-01-16: Cool! Reader Paul Helgesen has tracked down the offending cartoon, at this archive page (search for "Court under FDR thumb" to find the entry). It's by "Shafer" of the Cincinnati Times Star, dated February of 1937. Local mirrors of the image here (338x480, 13K) and here (841x1193, 48K). Thanks, Paul!