This is from a mural in the Islamic Republic of Iran. I found it on a picasa stream of Iranian murals linked at the fascinating Spanish-language blog "Murales Politicos/Political Murals" which collects photos of political wall art from around the world. Among the murals documented are left-wing, right-wing and nationalist murals from Spain, Latin America, Palestine, and many other places. This one, date unknown but probably more or less current, shows the outline of a pistol filled in with the colors of the American flag against traditional Islamic/Persian geometric forms. It's ludicrous, really, that such fear and fervor has been whipped up in the United States about Iran. Regardless of its often-repressive brand of state power backed by religion, its less than perfect democracy, and its leader prone to making bombastic generalizations, Iran is a small country compared to the United States: a small country with the most powerful military machine in the world kicking around at its gates. Who, exactly, is the bigger threat to peace in the middle east, the U.S. or Iran? The historical record seems pretty clear.
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