"Arrogance and stupidity" ... and it still goes on

Amazing. The BBC reports:

Mr Fernandez, an Arabic speaker who is director of public diplomacy in the state department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, told Qatar-based al-Jazeera that the world was "witnessing failure in Iraq".

"That's not the failure of the United States alone, but it is a disaster for the region," he said. "I think there is great room for strong criticism, because without doubt, there was arrogance and stupidity by the United States in Iraq."

The state department says Mr Fernandez was quoted incorrectly - but BBC Arabic language experts say Mr Fernandez did indeed use the words. The BBC Monitoring Service has confirmed that Mr Fernandez did use the words "arrogance and stupidity" in his interview.

(excerpted & slightly reordered but not edited)

I'm not sure which is more amazing - a State Department guy admitting the truth, or the way State denied it: not by saying, "He's wrong" but by saying "He never said that."

On the other hand, there has certainly been no shortage of evidence that this administration - heck, this whole government on both sides - hasn't quite figured out that when you're on tape your words are still there. Even Nixon knew he had to erase the tape... these guys seem to think that saying "I never said that" is enough.

Of course, usually it is...

Oct 23:
Well, now Fernandez says he said it, but didn't mean to say it... Reuters says: "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.