THIS JUST IN FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF SELF-PARODY:

Top Iranian cleric slams US pastor, stops short of fatwa (IranMania.com, October 08, 2002)

Quoted by state radio, Ayatollah Hossein Nuri-Hamedani called on Muslims "not to stay silently seated in the face of such insults and propaganda".

"The priests linked to the White House who stand against the prophet seek to revive the (pre-Islamic) period of ignorance," he said.

Ayatollah Nuri-Hamedani is one of the clerics considered qualified here or issue a fatwa -- or Islamic edict -- but in his comments Tuesday he stopped short of taking such a step.

He said Falwell's comments were "a Zionist plan to bring Christians and Muslims to a confrontation".

Way to make the Reverend Falwell's case for him. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 8, 2002 7:06 PM