U.S. Diplomat Tells The Truth About Iraq

It's not often that any truth comes out of the Bush administration, but last Saturday a bit of truth snuck out during a TV interview. Senior U.S. State Department diplomat, Alberto Fernandez, must have forgotten his "Republican book of talking points", because he actually began to speak the truth in an interview with Arab TV network, Al Jazeera.

Fernandez told Al Jazeera, "History will decide what role the United States played. And God willing, we tried to do our best in Iraq. But I think there is a big possibility...for extreme criticism and because undoubtably there was arrogance and stupidity from the United States in Iraq"

Even though 3/4 of the U.S. population would probably agree with Mr. Fernandez, Georgie's administration was quick to deny it. A senior administration spokesman said, "I can only assume his remarks must have been mistranslated. Those comments obviously don't reflect our policy."

But the translation must have been correct, because Fernandez answers the criticism by saying, "I know what the policy is and what the red lines are, and nothing I said hasn't been said before by senior officials. Nothing I said during this interview broke new ground." Fernandez was referring to a speech last March by Condoleeza Rice, when she said, "I am quite certain there are going to be dissertations written about the mistakes of the Bush administration. I know we've made tactical errors, thousands of them, I'm sure."

So we know at least some in Georgie's administration are able to see the truth. Many mistakes were made in Iraq, including the decision to invade Iraq in the first place. Now we are stuck in the middle of a civil war, with no friends on either side of the conflict. The violence is growing and Georgie doesn't have a clue how to end the mess. October is turning out to be a very violent month. 78 U.S. soldiers have been killed this month in Iraq, the most for any month this year.

It is time to get our brave soldiers out of Iraq. Call it "cut & run" or whatever you want, but our soldiers need to come back home. Our presence in Iraq is helping no one.