Apology of the Year

Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the State department's bureau of Near Eastern affairs, has landed in hot water.

Fernandez, who speaks Arabic, appears frequently on Al-Jazeera, where his volubility and candor have won him some rare credibility within the Arab world. In August, a Web-only Newsweek profile declared him "the best-known—and unexpectedly sassy—face of U.S. diplomacy." On Oct. 21 an Al-Jazeera interviewer asked Fernandez, on camera, how history would judge the U.S.'s role in Iraq. Here is how Fernandez answered (as translated from the original Arabic by Al-Jazeera):

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We tried to do our best [in Iraq], but I think there is much room for criticism, because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq. [Click here to see the video.]

Mr. Fernandez later told CNN that he was "not dissing U.S. Policy." Apparently his superiors felt otherwise. The following day Fernandez issued the three-sentence retraction below.

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