Holbrooke's Last Words On Afghanistan Downplayed As Joking Exchange By Obama Administration

[sabra]

Source: HuffingtonPost

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is trying to dismiss the reported last words of veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, its point person on Afghanistan and Pakistan who passed away this week, as a joke.

Administration officials said Tuesday that Holbrooke's final words, "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," were part of a jovial back-and-forth with the medical staff.

"At one point, the medical team said, 'You've got to relax,'" State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters on Tuesday, relaying what he said he had heard from people who were in the room with Holbrooke at George Washington University Hospital. "And Richard said, 'I can't relax, I'm worrying about Afghanistan and Pakistan.' After some additional exchanges ... finally (Holbrooke's doctor) said, 'Tell you what, we'll try to fix this challenge while you're in surgery.' And (Holbrooke) said, 'Yeah, see if you can take care of that,' including ending the war."

Added Crowley: "But certainly, it says two things about Richard Holbrooke in my mind. Number one, he always wanted to make sure he got the last word. And secondly, it just showed how he was singularly focused on pursuing and advancing the process and the policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan to bring them to a successful conclusion."

During Tuesday's White House press briefing, spokesman Robert Gibbs provided a similar response following a reporter's question. Gibbs likewise said Holbrooke's comments demonstrated his commitment to his work.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/14/holbrooke-last-words-afghanistan-obama_n_796628.html

[bushisanidiot]

1. Of course he was joking around. He didn't realize he was about to die.

but everyone wants to make a fucking conspiracy theory out of anything our President says or does.

guess it feels better to hate our president than it does to support him.

[webDude]

5. Things are so much easier when they are black and white.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. You know what?

I don't know whether Holbrooke was or wasn't joking, and that really isn't the point.

Why does the WH feel it necessary to come out and speak for a dead man? Who the hell are they to do that? Who are they to say what his intentions were or weren't?

It makes them look like they are trying to spin this man's death. It's ugly and classless.

[Bumblebee]

8. Because they DO know. They know him, they are used to his sense of humor,

and his family and doctors told them precisely how it occurred. It's you who do not know but want to make it fit what you want it to fit.

[Bumblebee]

2. Some people here are as humorless or as clueless as Tea Baggers. Of course it was

a joke, a wisecrack. His doctor was a Pakistani, and Holbrooke was not mouthing "famous last words." He very much intended to live. Does not mean the war should not be ended -- but don't make Holbrooke's words a solemn testimony to that.

[tekisui]

4. He was going in for very serious and life-threatening surgery.

There is always a risk that you won't make it through. I wouldn't flippantly disregard anything anyone said facing the procedure he was.

[Bumblebee]

7. This only happens in books. Have you ever gone through a major

medical emergency yourself or with your family? Black humor -- or humor of any kind -- is very much a part of it. Laughter, even if of the nervous kind, is a shield against the horror of it all.

[OKNancy]

3. As I said in the other thread, this reporter has spun the words

to make it seem like it was a "joke" or dismissed. The writer spun this to fit the prevailing Anti-Obama crap going on at the HP and here too.

[LiberalAndProud]

17. Yes, spinning!

There is no question in my mind that the tone of the HP "reporting" was to put the Whitehouse in as unflattering a light as spinnable.

[IcyPeas]

9. "Many a Truth is told in Jest"

(I think that was Shakespeare?)

[saracat]

10. Really? Sort of like Bush "joking about WMD" ? Really? I don't believe it.

And it is really lowering for thre WH to comment on this in this way.

[Bumblebee]

11. you mean he wanted his Pakistani doctor to end the war?

[saracat]

20. The WH should NOT be commenting on Holebrooks last words in any way. Period.

[bigtree]

12. the WaPo report (quoting an 'aide' who was there) said it was 'painful banter'

. . . which included conversation about other subjects like his family.

here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkpoint-washington/2010/12/holbrookes_final_words_on_the.html

[Robb]

13. Actually, I heard he also demanded his surgeon pass Single Payer

...and his internist establish a Department of Peace. But don't expect the non-Huffing media to report on it.

[TexasObserver]

14. This is a sign of the administration's inability to face reality.

[robcon]

15. Sounds right to me. Holbrooke was not against the war

n/t

[Number23]

16. Glad to see that this has garnered little attention. This type of wretched BS needs to stop.

[Ruperto31]

18. Only this type?

How about the "wretched BS" from the White House? I think that needs to stop, too.

[Number23]

21. If your reply made any sense at all, I'd probably dignify it with a genuine response.

[Johnny Harpo]

19. This Is Also A Sign of This Administrations....

increasing lack of class among those that surround the President.