Obama takes Hillary’s advice on Iran, then snubs her.

For days Barack Obama had been tip-toeing around the violence taking place in Iran, fearful that the Great Satan would once again be accused of meddling in Iranian affairs. His caution did not pay off as Iran’s government accused the U.S. of meddling anyway.

Behind the scenes, however, Hillary Clinton and the State Department were pressing Obama to take a more forceful stance against the Iranian crackdown. Several days after making their case, Obama did, indeed, use the language Hillary had been seeking: Obama finally said he was “appalled and outraged” by Iranian behavior and “strongly condemned” the violence against anti-government demonstrators.

A Washington Times story suggests that State Department employees were very familiar with Obama’s more forceful language because they had given it to him.

“It was a happy surprise,” one administration official said. “It was echoing the line the secretary had been pushing for a couple of days.”

Some in Washington are suggesting that Obama’s initial resistance to Hillary’s advice and then not acknowledging her assistance or at least informing her ahead of time that he had planned to communicate her perspective on the protests, is an indication of a strain between the two former Democratic primary adversaries.

U.S., Britain are Iran’s axis of evil.

Ayatollah Aliv Khamenei

As frustrating as it was for Americans to see protesters in Iran being shoved off the streets and back into their apartments and dorms, to know that this “revolution” would quickly wither under the whip of the Iranian dictatorship, given the history between our two countries, Barack Obama’s restraint — no doubt advised by Hillary Clinton’s State Department — has been the wise thing to do.

To the Iranian leadership and to many Iranians themselves, the United States and its foreign policy ally, Great Britian, are Iran’s “Axis of Evil.” Together we represent a two-headed Satan that has done more than meddle in their affairs — we have literally, cruelly changed the history of the Iranian people.

What the Iranians remember about the past is more important that what we have conveniently forgotten.

As Roland Martin points out in a CNN commentary, what most Americans remember is the Iranian hostage crisis after the fall of Shah Pahlavi in 1979. That event destroyed the Carter presidency and brought to Iran the clerical dictatorship that now rules so ruthlessly.

But the historical events that matter most to Iranians today concern a coup d’etat that was instigated by the British and assisted, at first reluctantly, by the Americans.

In 1953 Iran had a democratically elected president, Mohammed Mossadegh. His crime in the eyes of the British who had deep colonial roots in that part of world was to take back from the British control of Iran’s oil fields. The fact that the British never had full legal rights to the oil didn’t matter: oil is oil and legalities and democratic principles be damned! Although the CIA chief in Iran, Mr. Goiran, opposed the coup, he was over-ruled by Kermit Roosevelt and the State Department. The coup took place, Mossadegh was exiled, and the Shah — our dictator — was installed in his place.

Of course, the official “excuse” for the coup wasn’t oil. The British convinced the U.S. to participate in order to better contain Soviet influence in that region.  That was an easier sell in the early days of the Cold War. And as The Guardian points out, Britain’s interference in Iranian affairs goes back to the 19th century.

Iran, perhaps correctly, has accused the Twin Satans of having a hand in stirring up post-election violence in that country. Would we be surprised if we had? And let’s not be surprised if the Iranians look at Britain and the U.S. as an Axis of Evil no less dangerous and untrustworthy as the one George Bush identified at the beginning of his presidency.

Should we leave Iran alone? I think our history suggests that we have no other choice.

Hillary recovering from two-hour surgery.

Hillary is recovering from a successful two-hour surgery on her right elbow. The surgery took place at George Washington University Hospital on Friday.

In response to questions from the media, a State Department spokesman said that Hillary is now wearing a cast but is still “fully engaged” in her duties as Secretary of State.  A reporter also asked what medications she was on — for now, that information is classified.

The State Department made the following statement:

Secretary Clinton underwent a two-hour surgery to successfully repair her right elbow, her fractured right elbow. Her doctors at The George Washington University Hospital had advised – have advised her that they expect her to make a full recovery without lasting damage to her arm. After the surgery, she returned to her home where she is now and where she will remain with her family through the weekend. We know there’s a great deal of interest in her schedule and especially travel. But we will make those decisions in due course, and will announce those decisions in the days to come.

Today Hillary did go to her office and made some phone calls. On her doctor’s advice, however, she has decided not to travel to Trieste for the G-8 foreign ministers meeting and to Corfu for the OSCE meeting.