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Andre Maurois once said, "If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny." So seems to be the case with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Last week, the friends and families of Hane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal - three University of California at Berkeley students who ended up hiking on the wrong mountain - did the Google-era thingto mobilize support for the hikers' release - they released a YouTube video. The three students, caught on July 21, were accused of spying and are being held hostage along with hundreds of other political prisoners who could perhaps be used as a future negotiation card. While the students' parents are responding in a 21st-century way, the hostage-taking tactic...