{"id":1477,"date":"2006-10-22T14:47:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-22T14:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2006\/10\/it-is-time-to-clean-out-the-st.html"},"modified":"2006-10-22T14:47:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-22T14:47:00","slug":"it-is-time-to-clean-out-the-st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2006\/10\/it-is-time-to-clean-out-the-st.html","title":{"rendered":"It is time to clean out the State Department"},"content":{"rendered":"

How does this guy<\/a> speak for us? Talk about “arrogance” and “stupidity,” why in the world would a diplomat say something so undiplomatic? Shouldn’t he understand the type of people that he’s dealing with? We look so weak now in the Arab world, why add to our woes:<\/p>\n

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.
\nIn 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.
\n“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.
\n“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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do we really need a State Department? Can’t we just abolish it and start over? Maybe we can a least reassign this guy to Mexico or Canada where he can’t do us any harm.
\nLook, we don’t need to beat ourselves up in front of the enemy, they already look at us as a paper tiger and a nation that talks tough but can’t back up our words. We are not a nation of fighters, we are a nation of wimps.<\/p>\n

Tags: Iraq<\/a>, war on terror<\/a>, state department<\/a>, Fernandez<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How does this guy speak for us? Talk about “arrogance” and “stupidity,” why in the world would a diplomat say something so undiplomatic? Shouldn’t he understand the type of people that he’s dealing with? We look so weak now in the Arab world, why add to our woes: A senior U.S. diplomat said the United…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":307,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-under-the-sun"],"yoast_head":"\nIt is time to clean out the State Department - Reformed Chicks Blabbing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2006\/10\/it-is-time-to-clean-out-the-st.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It is time to clean out the State Department - Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How does this guy speak for us? Talk about “arrogance” and “stupidity,” why in the world would a diplomat say something so undiplomatic? Shouldn’t he understand the type of people that he’s dealing with? We look so weak now in the Arab world, why add to our woes: A senior U.S. diplomat said the United…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2006\/10\/it-is-time-to-clean-out-the-st.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-10-22T14:47:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"michele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It is time to clean out the State Department - Reformed Chicks Blabbing","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2006\/10\/it-is-time-to-clean-out-the-st.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It is time to clean out the State Department - Reformed Chicks Blabbing","og_description":"How does this guy speak for us? Talk about “arrogance” and “stupidity,” why in the world would a diplomat say something so undiplomatic? Shouldn’t he understand the type of people that he’s dealing with? 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