Following an October 21 Associated Press (AP) article reporting that Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said during an interview with the Qatar-based television network Al Jazeera that “there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq,” the October 22 broadcast of NBC's Nightly News made no mention of Fernandez's remarks, despite three separate stories on Iraq during the broadcast. By contrast, ABC White House correspondent Geoff Morrell reported on the October 22 edition of ABC's World News that the State Department claimed Fernandez's “comments were lost in translation” but that ABC's Arabic translator listened to the interview on Al Jazeera and “sure enough, he did say that there has been arrogance and there has been stupidity on the part of the U.S. in Iraq.” Morrell added: “In fact, there are several words for arrogance in Arabic, and our translator tells us he chose to use the strongest of them.” Similarly, on the October 22 edition of the CBS Evening News, national correspondent Wyatt Andrews reported that “our translators have checked the tape from Al Jazeera and 'arrogance' and 'stupidity' is what he said.” On October 22, the AP reported that Fernandez apologized for his comments.

From the October 22 edition of ABC's World News:

DAN HARRIS (host): Geoff, one other thing. Today, the State Department is playing down those comments from a senior U.S. diplomat -- diplomat, a man by the name of Alberto Fernandez, who went on Al Jazeera and said in Arabic that the U.S. had displayed stupidity and arrogance in Iraq. Was Fernandez, as he apparently claims, misquoted?

MORRELL: Yeah -- Fernandez is telling his bosses that he was misquoted. The State Department is telling us that his comments were lost in translation. But we had our Arabic translator go back and listen to the Al Jazeera interview, and sure enough, he did say that there has been arrogance and there has been stupidity on the part of the U.S. in Iraq. In fact, there are several words for arrogance in Arabic, and our translator tells us he chose to use the strongest of them.

HARRIS: Interesting. Geoff, thank you. That's Geoff Morrell at the White House tonight.

From the October 22 edition of the CBS Evening News:

RUSS MITCHELL (host): Wyatt, let me ask you another quesiton about a story that broke over the wekeend. The Associated Press is reporting that a State Department official, Alberto Fernandez, said on Al Jazeera television that the U.S. had shown arrogance and stupidity in Iraq. Again, Fernandez works for the State Department. What are his bosses saying about this today?

ANDREWS: Russ, we checked on that, and the State Department is trying to tell us that arrogance and stupidity -- remember Fernandez spoke in Arabic on Al Jazeera -- and that something was lost in translation from the Arabic -- that that's not what he meant. However, our translators have checked the tape from Al Jazeera and “arrogance” and “stupidity” is what he said.

MITCHELL: Wyatt Andrews, at the White House, thank you very much.