One of today's press briefings by the US contingent in Latvia was declared off-the-record, leading to interactions like this, as the row of suits at the head table couldn't be named --
Q Can I get back to something the senior official on the left said?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Your left, or our left? .... I'll help you -- even though I'm on your right and our left ... Many of the joint collaborations that I and my fellow senior administration official have referred to have taken place subsequent to the writing of this memo.
[Full text of leaked memo that generated this panicked briefing]
UPDATE: They managed to top the farce at yet another briefing in Amman to explain the cancelled meeting with Iraqi PM al-Maliki --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, the one word answer is, no. I can tell you that when the President made the decision -- or actually, it wasn't even a decision a few days ago when the idea arose -- of coming here after Riga, it was always a bilateral dinner. I can tell you that. It was always a bilateral dinner, and that was well understood.
I don't know when the idea -- the trilateral idea came up, but it was pretty clear from the dinner, I think, that both of them felt they -- you know, there are three bilateral meetings here, which cover all the bases -- President-King, King-Maliki, President-Maliki. So everybody gets to have these bilateral conversations and go into all the depth they want, and I guess they just concluded there was no need for a trilat.
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