Condoleezza Rice: I'm "Proud" Of The Decision To Invade Iraq

Bloomberg :

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she's ``proud'' of the U.S. decision to wage the Iraq war and insisted that the world is not more dangerous than it was when George W. Bush took office.

``We're now beginning to see that perhaps it's not so popular to be a suicide bomber. We're beginning to see that perhaps people are questioning whether Osama Bin Laden ought to really be the face of Islam,'' Rice, 53, said in an interview to be broadcast this weekend on Bloomberg Television's ``Conversations with Judy Woodruff.''

Read the whole story: Bloomberg

Comments

[Buddysingh]

This is one of the most despicable person in the Bush cabinet alongwith DIck Cheney, Donald Rusmfeld and Gonzo. How come people do not ask her why she did not take action on the intelligence report that led to the attack on the twin towers.

[americanwhocares]

Rice is a war criminal, like so many in the Bushco.

[shotdsherrif]

Condi makes a very, very valid point. There IS a conversation taking place in the Arab media over the worthiness of Osama Bin Laden as a leader and international face of Islam. You can argue what this might mean in the near to short term, but you can't deny that it is taking place ... AND that it wouldn't be happening without the US' aggressive reaction to 9-11.

And the response I see here is the use of images of coffins and blood-stains along with a slew of vicious invective directed personally at Ms Rice.

Or in other words, you are countering an Idea with an Emotion. And in essence, not really moving the discussion forward in any determinable way. And then you'll be wondering why Democratic politics has become so toothless and anemic that it has hardly even warranted consideration in recent years.

My solution to this: Find a way to squeeze the looney left out of the Democratic primary process. Let them go off and become greens, live in trees or whatever. Obama is galloping toward the center as we speak; and thank goodness for that. If he'd started there in the first place, he could have saved himself the trip.

[pinkyboo]

Excuse me?

That conversation makes all the DEATH and Destruction worthwhile??

shotdsherrif,

If it was such a GREAT idea, why aren't you over there??

[ChrisFL]

First off Osama has never been the leader of Islam. I suggest you do some reading about the subject you might start with the Bin Laden's by Steve Coll. It will give you some insight into where he came from and how the radical Islam movement fits into the larger picture of Islam. By the way how much time have you spent in the middle east? A lot of Bin ladens anger for America and the west stems from the Saudis allowing the US to base troops and equipment in Saudi after the first Gulf war. If you know anything about Islam, Saudi Arabia is home to their most holy sites and the conservative Islamic leaders believe it is an affront to their beliefs to allow the US military access to the Kingdom.

[shotdsherrif]

Yes, yes, yes ... I know the backstory. You however, may want to do some catching up. Rice was alluding to something specific that's been going on and you don't seem to know what it is. ...

My larger point: Not everyone who disagrees with the Far Left's take on the war is an ignorant 23%-er or whatever you call them. Someone may disagree with you and actually know what they're talking about ... pretending otherwise and never wandering outside the confines of HuffPost/Netroots ... hmmmm, just doesn't seem like a winning strategy to me ...

[shotdsherrif]

To give you a somewhat more direct reply. I could really give a rat's pattootie WHY Bin Laden is angry with us. I'm only concerned with the manner in which he expressed it. And historically, that is a very valid approach to matters of foreign diplomacy. Not that hand-wringing doesn't have its place - in the "cosmic" sense - just not right now.

And if you follow through with what Rice alluded to, you'll see. Arab intellectual leaders are starting to wonder about Osama's "PR angle" He suggested at the beginning that America and the West had lost their will to defend themselves; that they would in essence crumble. That was his "pitch" to his "constituency" Well ... we're starting to see a little second guessing over there ...

[ChrisFL]

Then lets move onto bringing democracy to the middle east, do you think it is just a little bit ironic that you never here the Bush admin. talk about bringing it to Saudi Arabia? This is a Kingdom one of the last in the world, one way the house of Saud stays in power is to buy off the radical Islamic movement in their country with monetary support so they do not use the mosques as a vehicle to remove them and install a Islamic form of government. Do you think the fact that they produce slightly more than10 percent of the worlds daily oil consumption might have a little to do with that? This region of the world is extremely complicated and does not lend itself well to quick fixes. This mess requires thoughtful long term solutions and cooperation with the rest of the world and most importantly other countries within the region. Does it dawn on you way the removal of Saddam from Kuwait went so well? I would say a major reason for that is we had not only international support but regional support for the operation. All of this has been lacking from the beginning in Iraq.

[shotdsherrif]

I understand the Saudi situation; its a different animal entirely. And I'm not pretending Iraq wasn't blatantly Machiavellian, just pointing out it was also very pragmatic. Say what you will, your emotional arguments only work in the near term. Things are getting better over there almost daily. And I don't see the Iraqi people screaming in unison for a US pullout; only a few scattered troublemakers. War is hell, nobody is suggesting otherwise. But in another 10 years many of these arguments 'against' will be water under the bridge.

[shotdsherrif]

Sorry, I may have misread your post. Iraq was never intended as a "quick fix" Moreso a long term strategic move. And yes, I'll even give you that we went there under "false premises" ... Bush "lied" no question about that. Bush on the surface appears mildly "learning disabled" no question about that either. I'm no Republican lapdog in other words.

And yet ... even at 23%, Dems are still in no position to turn back now, NOR I would suggest do they even want to. Most of our actual leaders, Kerry, Biden et al voted FOR and never apologized quite profusely enough, no? What would that suggest to you?

Is it at all possible that the Far Left "no war under practically any circumstances" coalition were the ones out of touch the entire time?

[petercor]

Shame? Blood on her hands?
Yet not one word of the blood on Saddams hands, or to the Democrats who allowed him to stay in power for far too long.

Any ANSWERS to the question, are we NOW WINNING the war? And the blood that would be on the hands of Barack and his fellow liberals if we were to RUN from Iraq now? And, the Blood that would result from exiting now, then having to redeploy AGAIN when Al-Queda, Iran and Syria take over?

[writeaway]

Remind me who was President during the Gulf War and who made the decision to let Saddam stay in power. American military are dying every week in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is blood on the hands of everyone who supported Bush and the neo-cons.

[newworldman777]

"Any ANSWERS to the question, are we NOW WINNING the war?"

Define "winning." If you mean, "Are the Iraqis making substantial progress on the political front, whereby all sides are coming together to create a working democracy and a peaceful environment, so that we can see an end date when we can safely extricate our troops," then the answer is an unequivocal NO, WE ARE NOT WINNING THE WAR IN IRAQ.

The sad thing about Obama (if he is elected) is the fact that he will face tremendous difficulties quickly and safely extricating our troops from Iraq while leaving a peaceful country behind. Bush and his criminal minions have so totally screwed things up in Iraq, that no matter what Obama does, the situation will be borderline chaos, with critics from all sides blaming Obama for the mess. If Obama leaves a substantial number of troops there, while waiting for the Iraqi government to "step up and assume responsibility," then the anti-war critics who voted for him (believing that he would quickly end the war) will pounce on him. If he tries to end our occupation within 16 months, resulting in chaos reigning, then the Republicans will say, "See there? We told you so!"

We should all bear in mind that no matter what happens, Bush and his neocon cabal created this nightmare with their illegal invasion of Iraq; they, therefore will be the ones to blame for the end result -- whatever that end result will be.

[beaupritchard]

To the question "are we NOW WINNING the war" ... my answer is ... $100000 per minute ... 3 to 1 troop rotation ... unsustainable ... "are" we winning the war.

To the statement "RUN from Iraq" ... I've done two tours in 'nam ... strung 15 cong out over 12 miles and I'm the one still here. I run from nothing. I live in Youngstown Ohio ... in '95 '97 '01 '02 it was called "Murder Capital of the US" ... home.

Like nam the longer we stay the more people will come to depend on us ... the bloodier it will be when we leave. Like nam we shouldn't be there in the first place ... and what occurs after is on Bush's head. Like nam the situation will stabilize in some configuration of the Iraqi people after we leave ... we would be stupid to go back.

[BEHM777]

Dr. Rice just qualified herself to be McCain's running mate. Her last shred of credibility is now gone by the wayside. What a shame. She is such a brilliant woman. Too bad brilliance and common sense too often are mutually exclusive.

BEHusseinM777

[toocoldout]

I don't think she is brilliant actually. Not even close. But I also don't really blame her for how things have unfolded. It was congress that authorized the war. It was congress that voted against diplomacy (levin amendment) and it was the dems in congress that gave the war bipartisan legitimacy. It was congress & the previous president that paved the way for this mess with the Iraq liberation act in the late 1990s, not to mention the sanctions & bombing of the 1990s that did so much damage in Iraq. Only congress and the president have the power to start & stop a war. This woman was just an incompetent following orders.

[RTIII]

Frankly, I was concerned she might run for President in THIS cycle! Think about it, a _black_wom­an._ That would have trumped both Hillary and Barack!

You're right, though; her as McSame's VP would be an interesting twist.
.

[mergina]

What I would really like to say about her comments i shan't post in here, as it would undoubtedly be my last post, but i hope you get my gist.

Condy Rice, you %&*&$%%$$%* **&^$$#$#, what the $#)%^^& are you talking about? Proud? You are proud of the senseless and unnecessary deaths of our service men and women? You %^^%$%$%$. You are proud of the tens of thousands of our service men and women whose lives have been permanently shattered with wounds too horrible to imagine? You miserable piece of #(^%^%%. You are proud of the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis who have been killed and murdered because of your lying war? A pox upon you for that you $%%&&%$$%$ %^$$$. You are proud of the lies, the theft, the murder, the broken lives, the absolute criminal acts by you and bush and the rest of this administration of greed? ^(**^&%% you and the horse you road in on you &&*%^%^% fO&&*^&^& s*&*.

[RTIII]

Now, tell us how you REALLY feel!
.

[ExPatriot70]

how can a women who is supposed to be so smart actually be so stupid???

[jaschrod]

Because she has been practicing for at least eight years, that we know of.

[sawdustinhershoes]

her blind love to Bush colored her senses. Actually, Ms. Rice, who's supposedly an expert in Russian affairs, is a moron. SHe like her buddies, has no true convictions and needed her ego rubbed more than she cared about any single human being.

Condi indeed has the blood of many people on her hands. SHe should be especially ashamed of what she's done to American soldiers, but the Iraqis deaths and destruction are next.

Condi should be a patriot and own up to her guilt and accept her punishment. I believe the penalty for treason and mass murder is death. I believe the penalty for murdering AMerican soldiers on foreign soil so that corporations and defense contractors would become obscenely rich and powerful, is death. I believe the penalty for allowing Osama Bin Laden to attack the US while Condi chose not to act, is death.

Condi needs to fess up to her crimes and take her punishment just like the American soldiers, innocent Americans and Iraqis have had to take the punishment she meted out to them through her lies and misbehavior.

[toocoldout]

Don't confuse intelligence with education. Having a PhD does not mean you have a high IQ. Generally they go together, but there are LOTS of exceptions.

[scouserinlondon]

All brains...n­o common sense?Some of the cleverest people have no "smarts"..­.no "nouse"

[beaupritchard]

Proud of this are you ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTxjh_UZ208&feature=related ... and this ... http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2003/07/24/iraq/photoessay564901.shtml

We invaded a sovereign country hung its king and killed his sons ...

We killed or maimed more in 4 years than that king did in his entire rule.

We took a secular nation with an educated populace broke it apart and bombed it back to the stoneage.

We upended a political process that had evolved over 6000 years because we a country of 200+ years didn't like it.

Proud ... really

[willfarnaby]

Rice is nothing more or less than a war criminal with a sea of blood of her hands.

Every decent American should do their utmost to help see to it that each of every one of these Neo-Con Neo-Nazis stand trial.

[MinneapolisBob]

Hey Condi: After this pitiful administration you are huge part of is out of office, how about you, bush and his wife, rummy, dick vader, colin powell, and wolfwitz go over to Baghdad, let's say, for as long as our troops are there. And take care of some of the orphans you have all created. Clean the streets of the blood which still runs in the gutters. Pick up the remains of the dead bodies you have caused the deaths of. Give speeches to the innocent Iraqi survivors and explain why you invaded their sovereign nation and killed their citizens who had nothing to do with the "war on terror."

There is lots more which can be added to the list, but those mentioned is a good place to start. Seeing that you are so proud of your accomplishments there. This would be a great thing for you to do instead of retreating to your nice comfy, high paying teaching job in California.

[GrainOSand]

HuffPost's Pick

Condoleezza Rice, a study in marginalization of brilliance and potential by setting one’s sights not to low, but to out of focus of what is worthy to shoot for. Bedfellows of the corrupt are corrupt, throughout, completely, and sadly. Condoleezza Rice, potential untapped, there she sits gladly on the lap of a tyrant and a ghoul, yet she may wonder why some see Iraq as a blunder and George Bush as a fascist fool -- the ultimate in un-cool. Condoleezza Rice is highly educated. It leaves one to wonder about the value of education taught in school, and the tools higher education really provides. It makes one wonder if all ascendancy to power requires is a degree and moral compromise. Such a sad story of heights reached yet lows realized is the story of Condoleezza Rice. It is a classic tale of the feeble driven by ambition who will eventually pay a heavy price.

[shotdsherrif]

Or maybe she really believes what she stand for ... one of the two.

[GrainOSand]

That is the scariest of all scenarios.

[imsosure]

Incarceration would be a good start.

[GrainOSand]

That is the sad aspect of my thoughts concerning Dr. Rice that she will be made to pay a legal penalty for her complicity with corruption and evil. The toll on her heart and mind though, may prove more painful and exacting. Condoleezza Rice is a human being and I do not wish human beings harm, but just as I must pay for any wrongdoing on my part, so must she. Just as all American citizens are supposedly accountable for their actions under the law, so is she.

[dawlishgal]

Please don't blame EDUCATION for Rice's behavior. I suppose if I were complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people I would want to think it was a good idea too (or how else would I sleep at night?).

I think she has OVERTAPPED her potential. She was supposed to be an "expert" on the Soviet Union, but her knowledge there turned out to be pretty much useless after the fall of the communist government. So she hitched her wagon to a different star....th­at of the Bush family and the immoral slugs that make it up. Once she even referred to Bush as her husband...­. not an error of education but of self-deception.

Don't blame education for the results of mindless ambition. People who are afflicted with THAT are going to turn out badly no matter how much education they have.

[GrainOSand]

Of course, any generalization is wrong; in fact, I would hope Condoleezza is not indicative but the exception to the rule. I would hope that if you were fortunate enough to attend one of the touted -- best schools in the world then you would come away from that experience with a higher determination and a higher readiness to serve, to function, and to be. Ms. Rice has not been a good ambassador.

A quote that reflects my view of education:
“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti

Maya Angelou once distinguished true intelligence from mental agility in an interview with Charlie Rose. I never forgot that interview. I have worked with people of all academic levels and there is no replacement for common sense.

[rabrophy]

I've been hearing about Condie's "Brilliance" for 8 years now. Would you please give one example of that "Brilliance".

[Durango]

The title of the document was Bin Ladin determined to attack within the United States/.

NO NONE could have imagined they would have used airplanes as missiles.

[GrainOSand]

My comments were harsh because the subject matter is harsh. I have no desire to diminish a woman I do not know, but merely to speak the words that accompany the thoughts that form in my mind when I think of what I know about her approach to humanity. I assume she is highly educated based on what I have read about her. You are correct though, we would not know it from looking at her approach. I love Condoleezza Rice as I love all human beings, but I cannot stand her approach to making a difference in this world if in fact that is what she claims she is doing.

[jazzman]

Our best and our worst have often come out of the world of academia and through people who are highly intelligent. No one doubts the intelligence of Marx of Lenin. Hitler was a genius in many respects and people like Albert Speer could be called many things but uneducated and unintelligent aren't two of them. Intelligence and fierce intellect must be complimented by both wisdom and compassion or else it can become a tool for great evil. I have never respected intelligence per se without also observing the heart of the individual. For example, I never doubt the intelligence of a Bill Kristol or a Charles Krauthammer but when I look into their ideological rigidness and in their hearts I see a vicious heart of darkness that looms in their desires and words. I suspect that kind of intelligent fanaticism could have been found in the upper echelons of the Third Reich and in Stalinist Russia as well. Today, we have too much intelligence in high places without enough compassion or wisdom.

[GrainOSand]

I am a simple fellow. To some I am educated, to others, not so much. To myself I am far short of the potential God gave me. Reaching that potential remains the impetus for life. I could not match wits with Condoleezza Rice, a George Bush, or probably anyone in government. I give them all the assumption of high intelligence, though I am sure there are many who would not agree with that assumption.

You mentioned compassion and wisdom as the two components that are missing within power structures. I have to agree with that assessment. My greatest attribute is the ability to love unconditionally. I value this aspect of me. I see no representation of this aspect of myself in government. In fact, if you are compassionate in government it can become a liability. Sadly, one comes to the conclusion that the system is forever broken by the inability of the people comprising it to reach higher in themselves when faced with the onslaught of opportunities for self compromise that politics offers.

I have seen the greatest life has to offer and it is the act of simply loving another human being without condition. Everything else is not even in the same league. We all need to do better. I am no preacher nor am I pushing a religious agenda. Something is fundamentally wrong though and it does not foretell a bright future. I wish love and peace to all not as platitude but as a foreseeable goal.

[flydoghead]

tell it to the judge in Den Haag

[Coyote2]

Folks, I think you all are too hard on this person. The C-heney/B-ush admin is still a very dangerous beast and R-ice may be the only sane person who struggles daily to keep C-heney's filthy hands off the nukerator button. R-ice is a coyote; give her some breathing room. She may yet surprise us pleasantly.

[KevinMast]

The most incompetent, corrupt secretary of state this country has ever seen. Condoleezza Rice is a warmonger, a disgrace to women & african americans alike. She should've kept her day job.

[iswideopen]

More white house spin.

[helen]

I wonder if she is proud of her role in approving torture on POWs....

[memphispaul]

If you ask DOD how many POW camps there are in Afghanistan the answer you'll get is "zero".
What our government classifies these folks as is UEC's. And this action and everything that followed will forever be a stain on us.

[CheneysACoward]

What "these people" do not grasp is that in wars to come....ye­s there will be wars to come. That those we are at war against will use how The U.S. treated it's POW's in this war. Oops I should have used "Detainees" not POW's When we complain it will be thrown back in our face. That is why McCain was against torture(I assume) knowing first hand what it is and knowing how little it produces. Even tho he backed down from his once straong stance.
American POW's has not been an issue in this war as in past. But it will raise it's ugly head again. When it does this Administration will be used as an excuse for inhumane treatment. .