Senior State Dept. Official Says He "Misspoke" on U.S. Arrogance in Iraq

[bigtree]

10/23/2006

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior U.S. diplomat who said the United States has shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq said he "seriously misspoke" in an interview aired on Sunday after President Bush said he was flexible on tactics, if not strategy.

"We tried to do our best (in Iraq) but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq," U.S. State Department official Alberto Fernandez told Al Jazeera television, according to a Reuters reporter who heard the interview, which was in Arabic.

Fernandez, the State Department's director of public diplomacy in the bureau of Near Eastern affairs, said that he had misspoken during the interview.

"Upon reading the transcript of my appearance on Al-Jazeera, I realized that I seriously misspoke by using the phrase 'there has been arrogance and stupidity' by the U.S. in Iraq. This represents neither my views nor those of the State Department. I apologize," Fernandez said in a statement.

The State Department had said that the English translation of the comments posted on Al Jazeera's English-language Web site had misquoted Fernandez.

report: http://www.nbc15online.com/news/national/story.aspx?con...


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[AndyA]

1. How much pressure do you suppose was put on this man to reverse

his statement? I would say in a word, tremendous.

If he didn't feel that way, he wouldn't have used those words to describe his thoughts.

Arrogance and stupidity define what has happened in Iraq better than anything, IMO.

[bigtree]

8. Fernandez did what any loyal prevaricator would be expected to do . . .

. . . he rolled right back underneath his master's feet. But we can add him to the growing list of republicans who don't believe in Bush's occupation in Iraq and have gotten caught up in trying distance themselves from it by offering bits and pieces of truth. Fernandez did what he could to save his job; just like the other nervous republicans who have been driven by conscience lately, or by nothing more than craven politics, to criticize the 'tactics' of the invasion and occupation, or differ with the 'strategy' to get our troops out.

Lots of republican jobs are threatening to come unglued in the coming months. Motivated by the prospect of being shackled to a lame-duck loser looking to commit the party to his Vietnam in Iraq for the rest of his term, more than a handful of republicans from the House have voiced election season jitters with Bush's 'stay the course' strategy. In the Senate, armed services committee chairman John Warner, Chuck Hagel, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snow, and now Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, have all called for a change in the Iraq mission.

But, who are they really fooling? It's not enough to just point to the quagmire now, two weeks before the midterm congressional election, and expect that to substitute and cover for their solid support and complicity in the entire Iraq lie from beginning to end. It's as if they want to be treated like children on the eve of their birthday, and have us overlook the spoiled rampage their party has been on, punch-drunk with absolute power assumed from majority control of all branches of our government. They're sorry they broke Iraq, and they promise to clean it up right after the election.


more: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[MrCoffee]

2. Is it possible that this guy's Arabic just sucks?

I mean, isn't it possible that the guy screwed up the words he meant to use?

Ether way, he's a moran.

[bigtree]

3. sure,

he really meant to call it FUCKING arrogant and stupid

[MrCoffee]

4. LMAO!

[spanone]

5. These Bush*folk do a lot of mis-speaking now, don't they.

[schmuls]

6. Wonder what *'s henchmen did to make him say he mis-spoke?

Threaten his life?

[warrens]

7. Not convincing enough

Denny, break one of his legs.

Frist, take out his cat.