Richard Holbrooke’s last words: “You’ve to stop this war in Afghanistan”

Speaking to his Pakistani surgeon and family members, Richard Holbrooke reportedly spoke those words - his final ones – before passing. So sad not one person who should heed those words will pay attention, not even Barack Obama. When you devote your life to public service, addressing worldwide tragedies, those words are a sad yet triumphant testament to a persistent warrior for peaceful solutions to irrational wars.

UPDATE: Derrick O’Keefe tweets that CBC, in its report on Holbrooke’s passing, did not mention his dying words. Sigh…

UPDATE II: It looks like the quote is a little askew. Hard to tell now that the spinmeisters have been blowing their evil winds. Witness the following spin so expertly woven here (emphasis mine):

State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley later weighed in with a similar account of the conversation based on descriptions from “a number of folks who were in the room.” He too described the exchange as an attempt at lighthearted banter, with Holbrooke telling the medical team, “Yeah, see if you can take care of that, including ending the war.”

“It says two things about Richard Holbrooke in my mind,” said Crowley. “No 1, 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 policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan to bring them to a successful conclusion.”