WASHINGTON, Oct 22: A CNN translation released on Sunday confirmed that a senior State Department diplomat had said that there’s a strong possibility history would show that 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 the comments on Saturday in an interview to Al Jazeera.

Soon after the interview, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that Mr Fernandez disputed the description of his comments.

“What he says is, that is not an accurate reflection of what he said,” Mr McCormack said. Asked whether the Bush administration believed that history would show a record of arrogance or stupidity in Iraq, Mr McCormack replied: “No”.

But the translation of the interview that CNN released on Sunday quoted him as saying: “History will decide what role the United States played. 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.”

Mr Fernandez told CNN that he was “not dissing US 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.

Mr 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,” Ms Rice said.

“I know we’ve made tactical errors, thousands of them, I’m sure,” Ms Rice said.