Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?

Germany elects a new Chancellor, more pro-US than the one she replaces. The American Secretary of State pays a visit, and one subject that comes up is the case of an apparently innocent German citizen of Middle Eastern birth who was "held for five months as a terrorist suspect by the United States in an Afghan prison last year."

The German Chancellor reports to her media that "Washington had acknowledged it made a mistake in detaining him," whereupon a "senior U.S. official" says, in essence, "Baloney!"

" 'We are not quite sure what was in her head,' he said, referring to Merkel. "

Isn't the State Department the one that employs diplomats?

Apparently the calculus here is that it would be more costly to admit one mistake involving one prisoner, than it would be to alienate one potential ally which is among the world's most advanced and democratic nations. Very much in character for Dubya and the administration he's shaped.