image:5375:0::0

The director of public diplomacy at the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs has described U.S. policy in Iraq as "a failure" and accused his government of "arrogance" and "stupidity".

Speaking in Arabic on al-Jazeera television, Alberto Fernandez gave viewers an unusually sharp assessment of the administration's efforts in Iraq. He spoke in the past tense, as though it was all over.

Mr Fernandez made some of his most critical remarks when he was asked by his Arab questioner about splits between the Pentagon and the State Department over who had made the "mistakes" in Iraq.

"It is difficult for any politician in whatever administration to admit mistakes, because people in the east as well as the west don't like to admit they have made mistakes or are wrong," he replied. "This is the mentality of the people, the mentality of power, authority, autocratic thinking. This is reality."

from The Guardian News

--Steve Aitkins