Sr. US Diplomat: "There Was Arrogance & Stupidity From US In Iraq"

[kpete]

Envoy: U.S. Showed 'Stupidity' in Iraq

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 21, 2006
Filed at 5:47 p.m. ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A senior U.S. diplomat said the United States had shown ''arrogance'' and ''stupidity'' in Iraq but was now ready to talk with any group except Al-Qaida in Iraq to facilitate national reconciliation.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera television aired late Saturday, Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department offered an unusually candid assessment of America's war in Iraq.

''We tried to do our best but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq,'' he said.

''We are open to dialogue because we all know that, at the end of the day, the solution to the hell and the killings in Iraq is linked to an effective Iraqi national reconciliation,'' he said, speaking in Arabic from Washington. ''The Iraqi government is convinced of this.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-US-Insurgents.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[malaise]

1. The solution is to

get the fugg out of Iraq.

[HereSince1628]

2. Wow. Sounds like Cheney's progrom just jumped the shark.

Anyone in a position to offer Fernandez a job? If he's not dead by tomorrow he'll be needing a job and maybe a new identity by morning.

[whistle]

3. There Was Arrogance & Stupidity From the moment Bush took office

...in January 2001

[The Wielding Truth]

4. There still is. This is just more smoke.