Good evening Haim, Rumsfeld put <<Romania>> in the news,
sabawoon.com
Romania's influential Evenimentul Zilei newspaper poked fun at the mistake. Alongside a photograph of the lunch, clearly showing Russian and US flags intertwined in the space between Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Iliescu, ran the headline "Memories are coming back to haunt me", the Associated Press reported.
Romanian officials moved quickly to play down the incident. "I don't believe that anyone can imagine that Mr Rumsfeld doesn't know who he is meeting," Mr Iliescu's spokeswoman told reporters.
In yesterday's gaffe, Mr Rumsfeld answered a question from a journalist on warlords in Afghanistan by talking about Kurdish peshmerga fighters in Iraq until it was pointed out that that was a different country.
"Oh, I'm sorry ... I was thinking of Iraq. No wonder I couldn't understand it," he explained.
He did however concede with a chuckle that the two countries were "close".
Mr Rumsfeld was also forced to admit at the same briefing that he was unsure whether he had lost his mojo, largely because he did not know what it was.
An article in Time magazine headed "Is Rumsfeld losing his mojo?" had suggested that he might be. The defence secretary said he had consulted an aide who told him that in "in 1926 or something, it had to do with jazz music."
Mr Rumsfeld's Pentagon press briefing
Extracted from the website of the US department of defence.
Journalist: Do you think that warlordism is something that should be factored into Afghanistan?
Rumsfeld: Well, I don't know quite what it means in this case. If you're talking about militias existing in the country, clearly, militias have existed in parts of that country, not least of which are the Kurdish peshmerga forces. And other elements have had militias...
Journalist: Sir ...
Rumsfeld: Just a minute.
Journalist: Afghanistan, sir, not Iraq.
Rumsfeld: Oh, I'm sorry. Go to Afghanistan. I'm sorry. I was thinking of Iraq. No wonder I couldn't understand it.
Journalist: I thought you might ...
Rumsfeld: I'm sorry. Yeah, I had the wrong country.
Journalist: They're close!
Rumsfeld: Yes, they are. (Chuckles)
Chugs, Jay |
