The article (written by Roxana Saberi, a reporter for National Public Radio) explains that Iran has been "at odds" with America since the revolution of 1979, which forced out the "U.S.-backed Shah" and brought to power a government "based on strict Islamic principles." But she doesn't mention that Ayatollah Khomeini and his mobs denounced the United States as the "great Satan" and chanted "Death to America." The hostage crisis, in which armed militants, possibly including the current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, held 52 American diplomats for 444 days, goes unmentioned until a glancing reference at the end of the article under Iranian history.

Omitting the nature of the revolution and vehement America hatred of its leaders, the article then instructs students that "the war in Iraq has further increased those tensions" because the U.S. commanders "claim" that Iran is supporting militias but the Iranian defense minister has labeled these accusations a "sheer lie."

There's much more along these lines. "Some members of the Bush Administration want to take military action against Iran." But nary a word on Ahmadinejad's threat to annihilate Israel or to see a world "without the United States." Nor is there any mention of the thousands of casualties of the revolution, the public stonings or the virtue police. We meet more Iranian youngsters who defend their regime: "The U.S. thinks we are dangerous. Why shouldn't we think the U.S. is dangerous?" asks a pretty, scarf-clad 13-year-old. Tania "is devoted to her country. Her wish for her people is that they become wise and well-educated." She "hopes to help" her nation someday "by becoming a lawyer."

We get the point. Only xenophobes would find this country hostile or frightening. The more we get together the happier we'll be.

I'm not urging that Junior Scholastic gird our kids for war with Iran. But this happy patter is insipid and unworthy of them.