Fred Barnes, Iran Scholar

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Just listen to this:

BARNES: then when you see, you know Obama has used — the most pathetic thing is to say, gee, well, we were involved in 1953 — 1953! This is an extremely young society. You think those demonstrators are thinking, well, we hope the U.S. stays out because they were involved in 1953? That's total nonsense.

POWERS: I think there is a history there.

BARNES: 1953?

POWERS: They do remember the United States meddling.

BARNES: No, they don't.

The way in which Fred just projects his own cultural biases onto a country and a culture he doesn't understand … well, it reminds you of the Bush administration, doesn't it? I've no doubt Fred wants the good guys to win in Iran; he just doesn't understand he's hurting, not helping. The photo is of a poster in Iran last week showing Mousavi and Mossadegh with the words: "We won't let history repeat itself." Stephen Kinzer's piece on Iran's memory of its abuse by America is here.