I've been thinking about this very same thing. Of course the usual suspects in the blagosphere began their dhimmi rantings. But even people who I previously thought were reasonable swallowed it whole and thought 'it could happen, those crazy mullahs'. It is unbelievable how the image of MENA countries in American minds is so warped. And like you said, even those who are in no way islamophobic are no better informed than the rest. This, I would say, is where aquol comes in. The dhimmi ranters you seem to focus on L are already a lost cause.

One thing to remember about iran is the vehemence with which some iranian expats will attack the regime at every opportunity. There is one iranian journalist (forgot her name) who sometimes gets invited on Dateline London on the BBC. Her whole schtik apparently is to blame iran on everything that is wrong with the world (iraq especially), even if the topic of conversation has nothing to do with iran or mena - one example that stuck in my mind was the french riots. It gets tiring listening to her after a while. Same goes for amir taheri who seems to comment in every newspaper in the world - including alsharq alawsat.

Jim Henley's post on this story is very good.

Amir Taheri is a nut and after his big hijab lie, has NO credibility whatsoever.

Could you clarify, "big hijab lie"?

Sure, a couple years back he published an article stating that modern hijab styles were an invention of Sayyid Musa Sadr in the 70's. I looked all over the web for the original, but it doesn't seem to be on the website anymore. I did find this though:
http://tinyurl.com/mp4le

He also gives a completely ridiculous analysis of Muslim dress in Britain:

"Muslims could also help by stopping the use of their bodies as advertising space for al-Qaeda. Muslim women should cast aside the so-called hijab, which has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with tribal wear on the Arabian peninsula. The hijab was reinvented in the 1970s as a symbol of militancy, and is now a visual prop of terrorism. If some women have been hoodwinked into believing that they cannot be Muslims without covering their hair, they could at least use headgears other than black (the colour of al-Qaeda) or white (the colour of the Taleban)."

http://tinyurl.com/bgkw3

here is the original article
http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/509

More on Taheri's lies:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060703/cohleresses

The funniest quote is this, by Eleana Benador, of Benador Associates:

"My major concern is the large picture. Is Taheri writing one or two details that are not accurate? This is a guy who is putting his life at stake." ... "the Iranian government has killed its opponents." [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] "says he wants to destroy Israel. He says the Holocaust never happened.... As much as being accurate is important, in the end it's important to side with what's right. What's wrong is siding with the terrorists."

She manages to get all textbook pathetic excuses. Let's see what we've got here: The classic look over there retort; fearing for his life; fake but accurate; anti-semitism; and finally opposing us is siding with the terrorists. Yep, all there.