Baghdad Wants U.S. Cash, Apology

And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Pay Up

Iraq's capital has a message for the U.S. -- pay up and say you're sorry.

Baghdad's city government is calling on America to apologize and pay $1 billion for the damage done by blast walls and Humvees since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Quote -- "The U.S. forces changed this beautiful city to a camp in an ugly and destructive way, which reflected deliberate ignorance and carelessness about the simplest forms of public taste."

One liberal law professor who was against the war, called the Iraqi demand -- quote -- "an example of unparalleled hubris."

Multiculturalism Critique

We've told you about the recent comments by three European leaders saying multiculturalism has -- in their words -- failed. White House press secretary Jay Carney was asked about that today, but seemed a bit out of the loop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS: In recent weeks, the British prime minister, the French president, the German chancellor, have all denounced multiculturalism. Does the president share the view of his NATO allies?

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm not aware of those comments by those leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

However, those comments and the issue has definitely made the rounds, appearing in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Associated Press, Reuters and of course here at Fox News Channel -- among others.

U.N.-Fortunate

India's foreign minister got off to a bad start during a speech at the United Nations recently.

Foreign Policy reports for three minutes S.M. Krishna read the speech from his Portuguese counterpart without realizing the mistake.

Finally, India's U.N. ambassador approached Krishna, moved some papers around and instructed him to read the Indian statement buried in the pile.

A puzzled Krishna responded -- "OK. I have to start all over again?"

Krishna brushed off the slip-up later, but opposition leaders were not so forgiving, saying he brought shame on his country and should resign.