by It’s time for Iraqis to “do more”, the White House says. But can the Iraqis maintain their own civilization? Not likely. Granted, I was 7 when the U.S. bailed out of Vietnam, but doesn’t this situation parallel that one very closely? There’s about as much chance of the Iraqi army restoring order on their own as there is of me winning the presidency in ’08.
In related news, the first wholly truthful statement to come out of the Bush government in months came from Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the state department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, who 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.”
Of course this ended up being spun around via an obligatory political apology.
But the “I misspoke” retraction doesn’t mean anything – Fernandez meant what he said and I think we all know that.
