The neocons are the bad guys, pressuring Obama to take a tough stand against tyranny and murder in Iran with the aim of emboldening Ahmadinejad and the mullahs. At least that's what I keep reading at the Huffington Post and Think Progress. Meanwhile, the realists advising Obama are the great heroes of our time, guided by America's self-interest rather than some fanatical Zionist ideology. So I'm curious to see how the left responds to this from the realist realist in American today (and also unofficial adviser to Barack Obama) Brent Scowcroft:
The US has intelligence agents in Iran but it is not clear if they are providing help to the protest movement there, a former US national security adviser has told Al Jazeera.
Brent Scowcroft said on Wednesday that "of course" the US had agents in Iran amid the ongoing pressure against the Iranian government by protesters opposed to the official result of its presidential election.
But he added that he had no idea whether US agents had provided help to the opposition movement in Iran, which claims that the authorities rigged the June 12 election in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president.
"They might do. Who knows?" Scowcroft told Josh Rushing for Al Jazeera's Fault Lines programme.
Of all places to say something so foolish, Scowcroft choose Al Jazeera for maximum effect. A neocon emails: "This is unbelievable, really. If he does know that we have a few assets in CIA…that is, for one reason or another, he still has access to this stuff…he's just blown a hole in his secrecy pledge. But, also, by saying what he has, he's just made it more likely that the regime will feel even more confident about making the accusation of US interference with the result that Iranians are more likely to be arrested, if not killed."
