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UN Pick Rice: Another Wrong-on-Iraq Nominee
UN Pick Rice: Another Wrong-on-Iraq Nominee
By John Nichols | The Nation | Submitted by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com
On the outside chance that anyone thought that Dr. Susan Rice might be the exception to the rule of wrong-thinking that characterizes Barack Obama's foreign-policy team, well, think again.
Obama's nominee to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, had this to say February, 2003, after then-Secretary of State Colin Powell made a wholly absurd presentation a plenary session of the United Nations Security Council regarding the supposed threat posed by those Iraqi imaginary weapons of mass destruction.
"I think he [Powell] has proved that Iraq has these weapons and is hiding them," said Rice, a former Clinton administration State Department aide, "and I don't think many informed people doubted that."
So said Rice in an interview with National Public Radio on February 6, 2003.
For the record, that was one day after Powell made his "case" for war to the U.N.
On that day, major newspapers in Europe had already debunked Powell's key arguments.
"Informed people" -- i.e., those who read credible media -- knew that. And they were struggling to avert an unnecessary war.
Unfortunately for the world, Susan Rice was not among them.
Fortunately for Rice, the fact of her failure is not of consequence.
On Barack Obama's foreign-policy team, the fact that someone was wrong on the great foreign-policy debate of one presidency does not disqualify that individual from defining the agenda of the next presidency.
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Hillary Clinton was wrong about Iraq also. I'm not familar with Washington,but I wonder if there are very many knowledgeable professionals that Obama could call upon that weren't wrong about the war.
teaINharbor
There is a school of thought pervasive in the D.C. establishment that says the U.S. is a benign and noble power whose mistakes are those of naivety and good intent gone wrong. Thus, the unfortunate horrific outcomes in places like Vietnam and a score of others are to be excused because of our unselfish wishes and noble dreams. This is the school to which Ms. Rice, and apparently Pres. Elect Obama, belong.
It's a seductive mindset that obscures the absolute evil of millions dead over the past 60 years of overt and covert "intervention" by the U.S. in countries around the world.
Speak against it, and your patriotism is attacked. You're part of the "blame America first" crowd. But when the facts support it, blaming America first becomes the only rational position.
I look for business as usual in the Obama Presidency. The only real hope is that his actions will be marginally less egregious than has been under Bush, or would have been under McCain. Slim solace for us and the rest of the world.
:)