Diplomat Cites U.S. 'Stupidity' in Iraq
By HAMZA HENDAWI
Published: Saturday, October 21, 2006 11:45 PM CDT
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A senior U.S. diplomat said the United States had shown
"arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq but was now ready to talk with any
group except Al-Qaida in Iraq to facilitate national reconciliation.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera television aired late Saturday, Alberto
Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern
Affairs at the State Department offered an unusually candid assessment
of America's war in Iraq.

"We tried to do our best but I think there is much room for criticism
because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from
the United States in Iraq," he said.



"We are open to dialogue because we all know that, at the end of the
day, the solution to the hell and the killings in Iraq is linked to an
effective Iraqi national reconciliation," he said, speaking in Arabic
from Washington. "The Iraqi government is convinced of this."

The question of negotiations between the United States and insurgency
factions has repeatedly surfaced over the past two years, but details
have been sketchy. One issue that was often raised in connection with
such negotiations was the extent of amnesty the United States and its
Iraqi allies were willing to offer to the insurgents if they disarmed
and joined the political process.

Fernandez spoke to the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera after a man claiming to
speak for Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party told the network the
United States was seeking a face-saving exodus from Iraq and that
insurgents were ready to negotiate but won't lay down arms.



"Abu Mohammed", a pseudonym for the man, appeared to set near
impossible conditions for the start of any talks with the Americans,
including the return to service of Saddam's armed forces, the annulment
of every law adopted since Saddam's ouster, the recognition of
insurgent groups as the sole representatives of the Iraqi people and a
timetable for a gradual, unconditional withdrawal of U.S. and other
foreign troops in Iraq.

"The occupier has started to search for a face-saving way out. The
resistance, with all its factions, is determined to continue fighting
until the enemy is brought down to his knees and sits on the
negotiating table or is dealt, with God's help, a humiliating defeat,"
he said. The man wore a suit and appeared to be in his 40s but his face
was concealed.

"There is an element of the farcical in that statement," Fernandez said
of Abu Mohammed's comments. "They are very removed from reality."



Still Fernandez warned that failure to pacify the widening sectarian
strife in Iraq as well as an enduring insurgency would damage the
entire Middle East.

"We are witnessing failure in Iraq and that's not the failure of the
United States alone but it is a disaster for the region. Failure in
Iraq will be a failure for the United States but a disaster for the
region."

Although the actual identity of Abu Mohammed remains unknown, the
interview adds to growing indications that Iraq's Sunni insurgents
sense the tide may be turning against the United States and the Iraqi
government it backs.



Fernandez's comments, on the other hand, join a series of sobering
remarks by President Bush and the U.S. military in recent days.

Bush this week conceded that "right now it's tough" for U.S. forces in
Iraq and on Saturday met with his top military and security advisers to
study new tactics to curb the staggering violence in Iraq. Three U.S.
Marines were killed also Saturday, making October the deadliest month
for American forces in Iraq this year.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said attacks in
Baghdad were up 22 percent in the first three weeks of the holy Muslim
month of Ramadan despite a two-month old U.S.-Iraqi drive to crush
violence in the Iraqi capital.



On Wednesday, and again on Friday, Sunni insurgents believed to belong
to al-Qaida in Iraq, staged military-like parades in the heart of five
towns in the vast and mainly desert province of Anbar, including the
provincial capital Ramadi. Some of these parades, in which hooded
gunmen paraded with their weapons, took place within striking distance
of U.S. forces stationed in nearby bases.

The parades proved to be a propaganda success, with TV footage of
Wednesday's parade shown in many parts of the world, a likely
embarrassment for the U.S. military as well as the embattled Iraqi
government.