Hadley changes the language of diplomacy
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/Getty Images News On Wednesday evening at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley spoke broadly about freedom and the Middle East. His prepared remarks (pdf) weren’t too surprising—the key point was that the time is right to push for peace because Israel is becoming more receptive ...
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/Getty Images News
On Wednesday evening at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley spoke broadly about freedom and the Middle East. His prepared remarks (pdf) weren’t too surprising—the key point was that the time is right to push for peace because Israel is becoming more receptive to the idea of a Palestinian state, the Palestinians are being more cooperative, and Arab states are engaging in the debate.
Hadley did go off script a bit during the Q&A session, though. A SAIS student asked a question about why some Arabic states would support democracy in Iraq when those states are not democracies themselves. Hadley’s answer was pretty standard until he began taking about elections in Iran. But Hadley replaced the “l” in elections with an “r” and instead began to speak about Iranian erections (The audio is here. Right click and save as. It’s around the 38:30 mark).
A harmless slip of the tongue? An attempt to throw off Tehran’s ruling mullahs, who have made it clear that they’re uncomfortable with sexuality? You decide.
David Francis was a staff writer at Foreign Policy from 2014-2017.
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