Something all Americans should know about Iran

The International Herald Tribune tells a gripping story of the escape to freedom of Iranian dissident Ahmad Batebi.

Meanwhile, The Economist points out something that all Americans should hear:

Mr Batebi thinks Iran could well turn solidly democratic some day. In neighbouring states, religious extremism is popular. In Iran, he says, the government is religiously extreme, but the people are not.

When a strict religious dictatorship controls a country, the people are likely to get firsthand experience with its downsides and then wish for the opposite: freedom and democracy.