Think Progress

“There was arrogance and there was stupidity

from the United States in Iraq.” — Alberto Fernandez, a top U.S. diplomat in the State Department, 10/21/06



29 Responses to ““There was arrogance and there was stupidity”

  1. budpaul says:

    “Arrogant and Stupid”
    Isn’t that what it reads on the business cards of every member of this administration?
    America’s Least Wanted


  2. Cloak&Swagger says:

    So, when another major event of cataclysmic proportions (war via terror and vice versa and over and over again) occurs are you still going to say that it was just their “arrogance and stupidity” that continues to fuel this never ending madness?
    Or are you finally going to realize that much of this has happened by design; drafted with the darkest of intentions long ago to appear as failure, when in fact it gives them even greater opportunity.
    Greater opportunity to do what? – You ask.
    You’ll see soon enough.


  3. jurassicpork says:

    Yet, there’s news coming out that, once again, as in the case of those two kidnapped FOX reporters, we’re secretly dealing with insurgents while Bush is actively working against his own people.

    “Things have gotten so bad for the Republicans that were President Bush to unveil Osama bin Laden’s corpse in the Rose Garden, some reporter would instantly check to see if his last meal had been on Jack Abramoff’s tab.” – Frank Rich, “Obama is Not a Miracle Elixir.”

    Goddamn, I love this man!


  4. Armando+Gomez says:

    Here’s two letters I sent to the Press Democrat Newspaper editorial department.

    Goof Galore

    October 20, 2006

    The article “BAGHDAD: General calls security plan a failure” shows the Bush administration’s Iraq war quickly veering off the road, skirting on the soft shoulder of their own making. . When both Maj. Gen. William Caldwell and Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros agreed that Operation Forward Together failed to quell the violence but instead expand the death rate of our troops recommendations for “change of course” must follow. The article goes into detail of the dates and numbers of the death toll both U.S. soldiers and Iraqis. But at the same time our military leaders and politicians starts shoving out excuses why the war is falling apart. Caldwell pouts that if conditions first devised and planned still exist today modification of plans must be made. That’s an obfuscation for “we goofed to start with, didn’t bother with changes on the way thus the mess we find ourselves in.” The article also failed to mention other mistakes for the war by the Bush administration such as the right number of troops to begin with, the failed reconstruction programs through mismanagement due to political appointees and the fabrication and deception in invading Iraq in the first place.

    The Death Knell

    October 20, 2006

    The article “STRATEGY: Pressures mount on Bush policy” implodes the Bush administration’s Iraq war strategy. Perspectives for this war are shifting toward the Democratic Party than the Republican’s. Dramatically, Republicans are siding along with the Democrats in recommending a different course in Iraq. Damage control is falling in place for the Bush administration as Republicans are trying to persuade President Bush in not “staying the course.” Even in the mist of the bloodiest death count for our troops President Bush is still straddling on the fence whether to admit the mistakes he made and to choose a different path as our troops are dying. Those in the die hard camp for Staying the Course will not relent. Hard case warriors such as White House spokesman Tony Snow and Vice President Dick Cheney will stand their ground to the last man, meaning our troops over there while they remain safely here. With his Cut and Run drivel Bush and his pet squirrels are pushing a comic book version of our troops’ death struggle in Iraq and they don’t care how many will die as long they stay in power and profit from that war in Iraq.


  5. Jay Randal says:

    There IS arrogance and there IS stupidity in Iraq still > not past tense WAS! The Bush Regime has destroyed Iraq and turned it into a cesspool of violence, to control its crude OIL!


  6. Dog_named_Boo says:

    When I think of Arrogance and Stupidity I think of the Smirking Cercopes Bush and Cheney


  7. Dog_named_Boo says:

    Yet, there’s news coming out that, once again, as in the case of those two kidnapped FOX reporters, we’re secretly dealing with insurgents while Bush is actively working against his own people.

    Despite rhetoric to the contrary, preventing sectarian violence has never been the priority of the Bush administration in Iraq. At the very time the Shiite militias were building up their power in 2004 and 2005, according to Iraq’s interim interior minister Falah al-Naquib, he warned Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials about the threat they would pose, but “They didn’t take us seriously.”
    The reason for the Bush administration’s inattention to the sectarian violence is simple: Focusing on that issue conflicted with the main interest of the Pentagon in building up overwhelmingly Shiite security force to fight the Sunni insurgency. In 2005 and even in 2006, the U.S. command used some of the most notorious Shiite sectarian paramilitary forces, who were known to be guilty of widespread torture of Sunnis, like the Wolf Brigade, to maintain control of Sunni cities like Ramadi.”


  8. WaltTheMan says:

    #6 – Dog_named_Boo,
    If my mythology holds up the Cercopes are to be considered as cunning and all-seeing, not greedy and self-effacing.


  9. Qdog says:

    Sorry folks that’s all we have to offer from this administration is arrogance and stupidity.


  10. DSouth says:

    Sorry world if you hadn’t noticed that’s all we get from this administration is arrogance and stupidity. It’s probably Clinton’s fault that they’re stupid.


  11. Dog_named_Boo says:

    #6 – Dog_named_Boo,
    If my mythology holds up the Cercopes are to be considered as cunning and all-seeing, not greedy and self-effacing.

    THE CERCOPES (fragments)

    Fragment #1 –
    Suidas, s.v.:
    Cercopes. These were two brothers living upon the earth who
    practised every kind of knavery. They were called Cercopes (1)
    because of their cunning doings: one of them was named Passalus
    and the other Acmon. Their mother, a daughter of Memnon, seeing
    their tricks, told them to keep clear of Black-bottom, that is,
    of Heracles. These Cercopes were sons of Theia and Ocean, and
    are said to have been turned to stone for trying to deceive Zeus.

    `Liars and cheats, skilled in deeds irremediable, accomplished
    knaves.
    Far over the world they roamed deceiving men as they wandered continually.’


  12. Mr. Evil says:

    Arrogance and stupidity; didn’t we figure that out about 5 years ago?


  13. WaltTheMan says:

    #11 – Dog_named_Boo,
    I’ll take another tract, they were mischief makers, not thieves.


  14. numfar says:

    *sigh*
    I miss Mighty Aphrodite and her defense of shrubbie and the neo-thugs….It’s so different here without “her”.


  15. Jay Randal says:

    Post 14 numfar > MA is busy cutting hair at his salon in DC > his clients are Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman > they love the haircuts from a drag queen like MA > lol.


  16. Why+are+there+so+many+pedophile+republicans? says:

    Has anyone ever thought that maybe this mess in Iraq is by design? Maybe…just maybe, if we keep the war going for a long period of time we could destablize the whole region, then we could pass constitution gutting house bills such as HR6166 in preperation for more terror attacks against the United States and further subjugation of American citizen. Oh Hallaburton and other profiteers can make trillions off this war, and after that next terror attack and since our troops are engaged in other theaters we can restart the draft….hmmm. Just a thought.


  17. war pigs says:

    There was arrogance and there was stupidity

    WAS!??!!?!?

    you mean IS!


  18. war+pigs says:

    “There was arrogance and there was stupidity”

    WAS?!!?!?!?

    I think you mean…. IS

    and#16 the longer this goes on the more I believe the substance of your post… makes me glad i have relatives in several other countries in various parts of the world (been keepin’ in better touch with them just in case…)


  19. richb says:

    Fernandez said this morning on CNN that he was translated incorrectly by Al Jazeera and didn’t say what is attributed to him.


  20. Jim+Source says:

    Gives new meaning to the term, “The Bush Twins.”


  21. null says:

    it would be nice if you guys added a link to the quote so i can source it


  22. El+Tonno says:

    Has anyone ever thought that maybe this mess in Iraq is by design?

    Never assign to malice what can be explained by stupidity.

    I _do_ think everyone would be real happy if a stabilised Iraq was currently paying out of their nose for the effing bombs that they got in their face in the first place (in which case elections would probably look smoother, too), but not to fear – the current situation will be misused to its outmost to make additional hay.

    The breakup of Yougoslavia begins to look like a “Comparatively Good Thing” ™. I will just throw out my TV and go to the movies more often…


  23. Sharon Cox says:

    Cafferty on CNN now, watch it……..Blessings


  24. Gourney says:

    It would just be sad, if they werent draggin everyone down with them…now its criminal


  25. unitynow says:

    What was the “body count” of US soldiers killed on October 10, 2006 during the attack on Forward Base Falcone?? I’ve heard it was 300 and is being covered up??


  26. Marie says:

    They are arrogant, but are they stupid, or are they cunning?
    Are they suffering from group think – group blindness, or have they planned this? The evil wrought by this administration seems almost too much to be brought about by something as simple as stupidity – I think we must remove them from power ASAP. They won’t go away, but they will be slowed down, and the public will have to be wiser to their activities in the future.


  27. Gregor Samsa says:

    This story needs to be updated. The diplomat has retracted his statement and apologised:

    “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.
    IRAQ WRAPUP 7-Diplomat ‘mispoke’ on U.S. arrogance in Iraq

    Of course, no amount of apologies will change the fact that he was right, however briefly.


  28. Gregor Samsa says:

    The Reuters link above didn’t work -for whatever reason.

    Here is another one: US official retracts Iraq remarks


  29. Mark+Glesne says:

    What was the “body count” of US soldiers killed on October 10, 2006 during the attack on Forward Base Falcone?? I’ve heard it was 300 and is being covered up??

    Comment by unitynow

    The “300 dead” story is a farce, there is no cover up. If you have access to a military personnel database (as I do) you can quickly find that none of the names attached to the fake casualty list from that “story” are real.



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