[Marxism] US diplomat retracts, apologizes for comments to Aljazeera

[Fred Feldman]

He said what he thought.  It's a sign of how demoralized the
administration is that he's still alive, let alone still employed.
Fred


US diplomat retracts Iraq comments
by
Monday 23 October 2006 1:55 AM GMT

Fernandez said the US showed 'stupidity' in dealing with Iraq

A senior US diplomat has retracted comments he made in an interview with
Aljazeera in which he said Washington had shown "arrogance" and
"stupidity" in dealing with Iraq.

"This represents neither my views nor those of the State Department. I
apologise," Alberto Fernandez, US state department director of public
diplomacy in the Near Eastern Affairs bureau, said on Sunday.

Fernandez said he realised after reading the interview transcript that
he "seriously misspoke" in using the phrase, "there has been arrogance
and stupidity" by the United States in Iraq.

      

Fernandez, who gave an interview to Aljazeera Arabic television station
in Arabic, said; "... there have been many mistakes in the [US] foreign
policy in Iraq.

  

"We tried to do our best, but I believe that there is great room for
strong criticism, because - undoubtedly - there was arrogance and
stupidity in US [dealing] with Iraq."

  

Fernandez said in the interview that the United States was ready to talk
with "those who care for Iraq" to end the civil strife raging there.

  

"We are open to dialogue. We all believe at the end of the day that the
solution to the inferno in Iraq is completely linked to an effective
national Iraqi reconciliation," Fernandez told Aljazeera.

Agencies
By 

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/91F3F0FA-349C-46A7-9A9B-F05EE7FA6
7A8.htm