'Dramatic Change of Direction' Coming for Iraq

[SWJED]

22 October London Times - U.S. in Secret Truce Talks with Insurgency Chiefs by Marie Colvin.

American officials held secret talks with leaders of the Iraqi insurgency last week after admitting that their two-month clampdown on violence in Baghdad had failed.

Few details of the discussions in the Jordanian capital Amman have emerged but an Iraqi source close to the negotiations said the participants had met for at least two days.

They included members of the Islamic Army in Iraq, one of the main Sunni militias behind the insurgency, and American government representatives. The talks were described as “feeler” discussions. The US officials were exploring ways of persuading the Sunni groups to stop attacks on allied forces and to end a cycle of increasingly bloody sectarian clashes with members of the majority Shi’ite groups.

According to the source, the key demand of the Islamic Army was the release of American-held prisoners in allied jails.

The Islamic Army has been held responsible for the killing of Enzo Baldoni, an Italian journalist kidnapped in Baghdad in August 2004, and the execution of three Macedonian engineers working for the American army two months later.

The talks with Sunni insurgents, a further sign that US forces in Iraq are rethinking their tactics, came amid parallel efforts to persuade Shi’ite militias to quell their own violence...

[marct]

Posted on CBC.ca

U.S. arrogant, stupid in Iraq: American diplomat
Last Updated: Saturday, October 21, 2006 | 10:59 PM ET
CBC News

A senior U.S. diplomat has criticized his country's role in Iraq as President George W. Bush said the United States is still expecting to win the war, but is changing its tactics.

"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," Alberto Fernandez, an Arabic-speaking diplomat in the State Department's bureau of Near Eastern affairs, said on Al-Jazeera television on Saturday.
....

U.S. open to talks

Fernandez also said that the solution in Iraq requires national reconciliation, and the U.S. is ready to talk with any group except al-Qaeda in Iraq. That suggests that the the U.S. will talk with the Sunni and Shia factions that have reduced the country to a state akin to civil war.

He said the sectarian fighting, and the insurgency — which involves both al-Qaeda and the Baath Party, which ran Iraq under deposed dictator Saddam Hussein — was not just the fault of the U.S.

"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."

An administration official wondered whether the translation was accurate, the Associated Press reported. The unidentified official said Fernandez was not repeating the administration position.
....

The impression I am getting from this story is that even State department officials are now, officially opposing the White House. Talk about mediaspace problems with allies...

Marc

[Merv Benson]

I agree with Marc. The guy goes on the media mouth piece for the enemy's message and tries to get credibility by embracing a part of that message. His job is to fight back against the enemy media message. This guy is in need of a brutally frank discussion of his own arrogance and miscalculations.

[marct]

The guy goes on the media mouth piece for the enemy's message and tries to get credibility by embracing a part of that message. His job is to fight back against the enemy media message. This guy is in need of a brutally frank discussion of his own arrogance and miscalculations.

I totally agree, Merv. He is supposed to be representing the US to the Arab world. What bothers me equally about the story is that it is being played in the Canadian press. Not only is he going against the US in the Arab world or, at least, to al-Jezira's viewers, he is also doing so, inadvertently, in the national press of US allies.

Right now, Canadians are split on our involvement in Afghanistan and, while the polls are tending towards withdrawing, that appears, to me at least, to be "soft support" for us to withdraw. This type of message from a US ambassador will go some way to "hardening up" support for calls for us to withdraw. Given that we currently have a minority government led by a man who is being called a "Bush Clone" and that we have a leadership race in the Liberal Party where our involvement in Afghanistan is a key issue, the effect of a pronouncement like this will go far beyond the muslim world.

Marc

[SWJED]

Newsweek, 29 August 2006 - Voice of America. BTW - his job speciality is public affairs...

Alberto Fernandez says he can't keep his mouth shut. "I'm Cuban," he says. "We can't close our big mouths. Cubans love to talk, love to argue, love to engage in repartee." His garrulousness might be a liability for an ordinary diplomat—but Fernandez is anything but ordinary. As one of the few genuinely fluent Arabic speakers at the U.S. State Department, Fernandez has become a one-man public diplomacy machine, appearing in Arabic media on almost a daily basis. Although most Americans have never heard of him, his rare linguistic skill, together with his trademark blend of compassion and sass, have made him the face of the United States in the Middle East.

On paper, at least, Fernandez's job is basically that of a high-powered booker, coordinating appearances of high-level State Department officials on Arab media. But in reality, he's the main act. According to his own conservative estimates, he has done about 200 interviews with Arabic media in the past year—with almost 60 media appearances in July alone. "As far as I am aware, he is the only Arabic speaker from the U.S. government who appears on Al-Jazeera says Abderrahim Foukara, managing editor at the network's Washington offices. "Sometimes we'll even have him on three or four days in a row."

More than being one of the few people qualified for the job, Fernandez is one of the few who are willing to take it on. After 9/11, most high-level U.S. leaders preferred not to spend time speaking directly to an Arab public they felt was hopelessly anti-American. Even among those who saw a value in public diplomacy, like Bush and Condoleezza Rice, many refused to appear on Al-Jazeera—despite it being the No. 1 satellite channel in the Arab world—in protest at what they deemed to be its biased coverage...

[slapout9]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...21/1007/NEWS05

Read the above link of what a 16 year old did on the capitol Steps yesterday in Montgomery,Al. Read the whole article and look at the planning and thought that went into this. If we had I/O people like this working for the US things might be better.

[marct]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...21/1007/NEWS05

Read the above link of what a 16 year old did on the capitol Steps yesterday in Montgomery,Al. Read the whole article and look at the planning and thought that went into this. If we had I/O people like this working for the US things might be better.

*Very* well organized. Maybe Saul Alinsky should be required reading for I/O...

Marc

[marct]

At CNN.com

(CNN) -- A senior U.S. State Department diplomat told Arab satellite network Al Jazeera that there is a strong possibility history will show the United States displayed "arrogance" and "stupidity" in its handling of the Iraq war.

Alberto Fernandez, director of the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of Near East Affairs, made his comments on Saturday to the Qatar-based network.

"History will decide what role the United States played," he told Al Jazeera in Arabic, based on CNN translations. "And God willing, we tried to do our best in Iraq."

"But I think there is a big possibility ... for extreme criticism and because undoubtedly there was arrogance and stupidity from the United States in Iraq," the diplomat told Al Jazeera. (Watch Fernandez on Al-Jazeera -- :19)

"I can only assume his remarks must have been mistranslated. Those comments obviously don't reflect our policy," a senior Bush administration official said.

Fernandez told CNN that he was "not dissing U.S. policy."

"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," the diplomat told CNN.

Fernandez referred to a speech made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in March in Blackburn, England.

"I am quite certain there are going to be dissertations written about the mistakes of the Bush administration," Rice said.

"I know we've made tactical errors, thousands of them, I'm sure," Rice said. "But when you look back in history, what will be judged" is whether the "right strategic decision" was made.

Fernandez's comments came as President Bush gathered his senior generals to discuss changes to strategy in Iraq, where violence has spiked in recent days.
..... More, including video links

[Merv Benson]

Fernandez now says the translation into English of his remarks in Arabic were not an accurate reflection of what he said. If that is so, why doen't he say what he meant?

[SWJED]

Alberto Fernandez says he can't keep his mouth shut...

[marct]

Fernandez now says the translation into English of his remarks in Arabic were not an accurate reflection of what he said. If that is so, why doen't he say what he meant?

Hmmm, not qute....

A senior Bush administration official says they might not have been [translated correctly]. The official says, "Those comments obviously don't reflect our position."

And a State Department spokesman says the diplomat, Alberto Fernandez, doesn't think the reports of his comments are an "accurate reflection of what he said."

Note that "the Bush administration" and "a State Department spokesman" are the ones saying the translation was inaccurate. Fernandez will probably have a press conference soon to "clarify" his remarks - after he has been called on the carpet. I'll keep an eye out on CBC to see if they print a "retraction".

Marc