Every once in a while, even a career diplomat, however accidentally, utters an incautious word or two of spin-free candor.

"A senior U.S. State Department official offered an unusually candid assessment of the security situation in an interview Saturday with Al-Jazeera television, saying the U.S. had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq. Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, also said the U.S. was ready to talk with any Iraqi group except al-Qaida in Iraq to facilitate national reconciliation." -- AP via Yahoo

And he's backing away from it faster than a British general.