What Holbrooke Really Said

[janedrake]

First, may I say I'm very saddened to hear of the death of Richard Holbrooke; I'd read he was critically ill, but somehow still expected him to pull through....

Steve Benen points to this item on his blog; thought I'd post it here, because many no doubt are already co-opting the words for their own purposes.

Quote:Holbrooke's last words on the Afghan war By Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Karen DeYoung

,...As Dr. Jehan El-Bayoumi was attending to Holbrooke in the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital, she told him to relax and asked what she could do to comfort him, according to an aide who was present. Holbrooke, who was in severe pain, said jokingly that it was hard to relax because he had to worry about the difficult situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

El-Bayoumi, an Egyptian-American internist who is Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's physician, replied that she would worry for him. Holbrooke responded by telling her to end the war, the aide said.

The aide said he could not be sure of Holbrooke's exact words. He emphasized Tuesday that the comment was made in painful banter, rather than as a serious exhortation about policy.

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[sandnsea]

This is what Gibbs had to say about it. It seems obvious it was in jest. But then I was skeptical of the comments from the gate. If Holbrooke thought we needed to end this war and be done with the region, he'd say so in no uncertain terms.

http://democratsforprogress.com/forum/sh...hp?tid=544

[janedrake]

Ah - thanks for that link, Sandnsea - had missed that thread!

[Treestar]

I don't like they way it is being used. Everyone wants to end the war. It's just evil to use this guy's pain and what he said during it to support their agenda, which appears to be end the war right now rather than responsibly.

From wikipedia (trying to get a hold on just what his job was)

Quote:Special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan

Under the Obama administration Holbrooke was appointed the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.[22] In that position, he helped kill an initiative to "back the creation a new UN special envoy empowered to pursue peace talks with the Taliban."[23]

He also asserted that "one of the most cost-effective steps Washington could take would be to boost the agriculture sector of Afghanistan, which in years past had been a productive and profitable source of exports. Replicate the past success, he said, and Afghans would have money and jobs—and that, in turn, would create stability in the country. He called for 'a complete rethink' of the drug problem in Afghanistan, suggesting that draconian eradication programs were bound to fail."[24]

However, "Holbrooke's skill set did not lead to much accomplishment in Afghanistan. He never worked out a productive relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai . . . He butted heads with other administration officials and was dismissed by European colleagues. He brokered no breakthroughs."[24]

[Cha]

Evil is what they do, Treestar..from using suicides to the last words of Richard Holbrook to twist it to their agenda.