I listened to that speech and some in the audience laughed when he said that. He wasn’t serious. Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and Sandy Berger all served as National Security Advisors prior to General Jones. General Jones was giving props to his predecessors. He was trying to be nice to Kissinger and he should have been more careful. Every loony conspiracy site on the internet now has taken that quote as the gospel. Kissinger, Scowcroft and Berger all had very different views on foreign policy. Brent Scowcroft came out very publically against the Iraq war and since he was very close to Bush Sr., many thought he was speaking for Bush Sr. Sandy Berger served under Clinton and was far less hawkish than Kissinger.

Interesting theory. What, then, if nothing comes of this? (which, by the way, is entirely possible.)

1. We’re already too far into the middle east we need to step back.

2. The US has been accused (for good reason) over the years of meddling in Irans leadership. I don’t agree with any of the moves we’ve done in the past so why bother with them now.

3. You can’t force our style of “democracy” on another nation.

4. The people have to be willing to fight for what they believe in we can’t give them anything.

5. We wouldn’t like any country telling us how to handle our elections or the aftermath of them (2000 & 2004). Please believe if we acted like the Iranians in the street the police would be beating our asses too.

5. We don’t know if there is really election fraud. Just like every other nation there are different cultures and beliefs. The Iranians that live in the city have a different view point than Iranians in rual areas.

6. Don’t believe the hype coming from the republicans about Obamas inaction. The opposition leader isn’t more pro-America than Ahmadinajad. This is only another lame reason for them to nip at his heels. The Republicans wouldn’t do anything either and if they did they would only make it worse by suggesting that Isreal attack Iran during this chaos.

That’s a pretty accurate summation, devoid of the hyperbole, partisan talk and conspiracy nonsense that tends to take form in these types of discussions. Kudos.
Though, anytime Kissinger agrees with Obama it’s a good look, whether or not BO touts it.

John Bolton, Henry Kissinger and Zbignew Brezinski and not members of the current administration. I don’t think that they are the kind of people that Obama listens to.

My view is less black and white than yours. The United States, which has often supported democracy, overthrew the democratically elected goverment of Iran to control oil. The dictator who was then put in place by the U.S. (The Shah) was overthrown by the people and replaced with a religious government which was in some ways more repressive than the last. Currently, the protestors are trying to get a fair chance at electing their candidate. Their candidate was one of the ones pre selected by the ruling religious elite and was one of the main figures in the revolution against the Shah. The U.S. sympathizes with the protestors, who are supporting a candidate who will continue to try to build a nuclear weapon and threaten Israel and who helped overthrow the U.S.’ chosen dictator. There is nothing black and white about this history. All sides can be looked at as good or bad.