Condoleezza
Rice Seen in World Hot Spots
By Lisette Poole
CA
When secretary
of state-designate, Condoleezza Rice, appears
before Congress in January for confirmation hearings
the process is likely to be swift and sweet. She
will become the voice and face of the Bush administration’s
schemes to bring democracy to the Middle East
and Southwest Asia.
Political observers believe she will prosecute
these goals with the same zeal as she has fulfilled
the duties of National Security Advisor for the
past four years—forcefully, ruthlessly and
ambitiously with little regard for the peoples
and cultures in the way.
Her confirmation will decide the overall policy
approach to hot spots in the world, particularly
Iraq and Afghanistan, and through them the respective
regions.
Can citizens play any role in the confirmation
process? Yes they can. Citizens can approach members
of the relevant Senate Committee urging them to
get firm public commitments from Condoleezza Rice
about key policy matters. “It will be a
major step forward for the whole world if the
Senate Foreign Relations could get Dr. Rice to
submit a definite Iraq exit plan,” says
AMT Chair Dr. Agha Saeed.
The 109th Congress convenes on Jan. 3, and Mr.
Bush takes his oath of office for his second term
on Jan. 20.
"Our task is to work with those in the Middle
East who seek progress toward greater democracy,
tolerance, prosperity and freedom. As President
Bush said in February, the world has a clear interest
in the spread of democratic values, because stable
and free nations do not breed ideologies of murder.
They encourage the peaceful pursuit of a better
life,'" Rice wrote in a Washington Post,
article in August 12, 2004.
But diplomatic relations with the Arab world and
most of Europe are frigid at best. Leaders in
these regions, as well as those in Muslim countries
contend that the Bush administration has done
very little to encourage peace talks between Palestinians
and Israelis. They also fault America for the
chaos and lack of hope in the region as a consequence
of the invasion of Iraq.
Whereas the administration has paid lip service
to the establishment of a Palestinian state (the
end of 2005, the year that President George Bush
had set in June 2002 and rescheduled to 2009)
right-wing Israelis like Ariel Sharon who represent
the Greater Israel ideology claiming all of historical
Palestine as a Jewish homeland have been especially
successful at making their views of the region
the dominant one among US supporters of Israel,
diplomats say.
Excerpts of what the rest of the word is saying
about Rice's Nomination
United Kingdom
"Surprisingly little is known about where
[Rice] stands on the political spectrum between
the hawkish Vice-President, Dick Cheney, and the
more moderate, multilaterally minded Colin Powell,
whom she will succeed. She inclined at times to
the one, at times to the other. Crystal clear,
by contrast, is her closeness to the President.
... Closeness to the White House will be of enormous
advantage to the new Secretary as she emerges
from relative obscurity, at least on the international
stage, into the glare of heading one of a superpower's
great offices of state. There, she will have to
hold her own before Congress and with …
Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary
of Defense. In an arena of that size she has yet
to prove herself."
Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, November 17, 2004
Japan
"Because Secretary of State Powell was one
of a few 'multilateralists' within the first Bush
cabinet, his announced resignation is bound to
strongly effect the course of US diplomacy....
His successor will hold the key to the future
direction of Washington's diplomatic conduct.
If National Security Advisor Rice, known as a
moderate pragmatist, is chosen as the top American
diplomat, US foreign policy would not be drastically
changed in favor of the hawks."
Editorial, Nihon Keizai, November 16, 2004
France
"Powell's diplomatic legacy will undoubtedly
be the international conference on Iraq November
22 and 23. ... It is ironic that for the victor
of the first Iraq war, it is Iraq which later
became Powell's insurmountable obstacle. ... Condoleezza
Rice will probably show less patience and openness
than Colin Powell. But it is certain that she
will have more authority over the President."
Philippe Gelie, Le Figaro, November 16, 2004
Lebanon
"Rice, as a security specialist, thinks of
US foreign policy largely in terms of national
and strategic interest. She is, moreover, no fan
of an America acting as a paternalistic nation-builder.
... But there is more. Rice was also one of the
few in the US administration who advocated that
Muslim societies were not adverse to democracy,
freedom and the rule of law. As a US secretary
of state, she would need to emphasize the rule
of law over security as a basis for solving the
Middle East's many problems. Born and raised under
the shadow of racial segregation in Birmingham,
Alabama, Rice has no excuse for not recognizing
the vital importance of justice."
Editorial, The Daily Star, November 17, 2004
Australia
"Condoleezza Rice is a very close and very
loyal adviser to President Bush. ... She has proven
an effective advocate for positions the President
has taken, but has always seemed rather less effective
in either guiding the President to good information
or good judgments based on good information. Her
natural instincts, moreover, are confrontative
and oriented towards the exercise of power - a
power which US adventurism in recent years has
shown to be of immense technological superiority
but quite ineffective in reorganizing hearts and
minds."
Editorial, The Canberra Times, November 17, 2004
Jamaica
"The departure of Colin Powell was long expected,
so nothing much can be read into it. However his
replacement by Condoleezza Rice will hardly please
those who valued Powell's diplomatic approach
over Rice's willingness to persecute wars. …
Any optimism that a second Bush Cabinet might
turn over a new leaf and change direction slightly
in the face of the apparent failures of the neo-cons
-- a worsening war in Iraq, a stalled Middle-East
peace process, frosty relations with many allies
-- appears to have dissipated. If the rumors turn
out to be true, and the appointments go ahead,
then we will be getting more of the same. In spades."
Editorial, Jamaica Gleaner, November 17, 2004
Canada
"Replacing Powell with the more hawkish Condoleezza
Rice seems to indicate the Bush administration
has no intention of taking a more multilateral
approach to foreign relations any time soon. There
is, however, some good news. The post of secretary
of state - an office held by such luminaries as
Thomas Jefferson and George Marshall - has passed
from an African American man to an African American
woman. Even a decade ago, such an event would
have been startling. Today, it's barely worth
a mention. And that is progress worth celebrating."
Editorial, The Montreal Gazette, November 17,
2004
In sum, these above questions, concerns and reservations
are helpful for American citizens to voice their
own questions, concerns and reservations by submitting
written memoranda to members of the Senate Foreign
Relations, whose members include: Senators Richard
Lugar (Chair), Joseph Biden (Ranking Member),
Chuck Hagel, Paul Sarbanes, Lincoln Chafee, George
Allen, Sam Brownback, Michael Enzi, George Voinovich,
Lamar Alexander, Christopher Dodd, John Kerry,
Russell Feingold, Barbara Boxer, Bill Nelson,
and John Rockefeller, Norm Coleman , Jon Corzine,
and John Sununu.
(Lisette B. Poole, a freelance journalist based
in the San Francisco Bay area, also lecturers
at CSUH)
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