U.S. must learn from its mistakes

Re “ ‘Heroes’ in waiting,” Opinion, Nov. 28

When will the U.S. learn from its past mistakes? I hope that former Pentagon advisor and neocon Richard Perle does not have the same clout as he did in the past in the Bush administration when it handpicked Ahmad Chalabi be the savior of the Iraqi people.

I don’t know much about Farid Ghadry, who is being groomed to lead the Syrians, but as Alan Weisman rightly quoted the Mother Jones article by Laura Rosen, Iranian dissident Amir Abbas Fakhravar is a charlatan who does not fool anyone but neocons like Perle. If you talk with people from Iran, among them that country’s leading political dissident, Akbar Ganji, Fakhravar is not involved in the Iranian opposition or student movement. For someone to be a leader, the person must have the respect of his people. Leaders are not like clothes that have a label in the back saying “Made in United States.”

Mehdi Amini

Herndon, Va.