Her master’s voice

It’s the sort of blanket statement that makes everyone think all Americans are a bunch of bigoted assholes. According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, tossed perfunctory answers to questions asked by a group of visiting British MPs about Iran, then erected a temple to her uselessness by saying, “In any case, I hate all Iranians.”

According to one MP at the Pentagon that day, rather than putting minds at ease on U.S. plans to launch another war for no real reason, Cagan, also one of the President’s foreign policy advisors, “seemed more keen on saying she didn’t like Iranians.” The unnamed MP told the paper that Cagan “did say there were no plans for an attack, but the tone did not fit the words.” A second MP said he got the impression “some in America are looking for an excuse to attack Iran.”

Of the six MPs that met with Cagan, three confirmed she indeed said she hates Iranians, one offered no comment and two couldn’t be reached. The Pentagon denies Cagan said she hates anyone, insisting that “she doesn’t speak that way.”

by Scott Saxon