U.S. official: History may show U.S. 'stupidity' on Iraq

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A senior State Department official told Arab satellite station Al Jazeera on Saturday 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 gave the Qatar-based station the 35-minute interview from Washington, where he is director of the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.

"History will decide what role the United States played," he said 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 (inaudible) for extreme criticism and because undoubtedly there was arrogance and stupidity from the United States in Iraq."

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

Fernandez told CNN he was replying to a question about how people will assess the United States in the future, and he said he thought that was how the country would be judged.

He was defending U.S. policy in a region where everyone dislikes the United States, he said, and was doing so in an aggressive way that was faithful to U.S. policy and trying to put it in the best light.

He was "not dissing U.S. policy," he said.

"I know what the policy is and what the red lines are, and nothing I said hasn't been said before by senior officials," Fernandez told CNN. "Nothing I said during this interview broke new ground."

He referred to comments made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in March as an example.

Rice, during a visit to Blackburn, England, acknowledged to journalists that mistakes had been made in the war.

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

Ousting Saddam Hussein was the correct thing to do, because he was a threat to the international community, she added.

CNN's Elise Labott, Elaine Quijano and Octavia Nasr contributed to this report.

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