After weeks of dog whistles and GOP bullshit, the truth about Susan Rice is finally emerging. It may not be what those Democrats who have circled their wagons around her may expect or want in the next US Secretary of State:
Susan Rice was a cheerleader for Bush’s invasion of Iraq (11/02, 12/02, 02/03)
http://www.accuracy.org/...
Assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration, Rice has been a prominent foreign policy spokesperson for the Obama campaign. Here are some of her claims shortly before the invasion of Iraq:
“I think he has proved that Iraq has these weapons and is hiding them, and I don’t think many informed people doubted that.” (NPR, Feb. 6, 2003)
“We need to be ready for the possibility that the attack against the U.S. could come in some form against the homeland, not necessarily on the battlefield against our forces. And I think there, too, is an area where the American people need to be better prepared by our leadership. … It’s clear that Iraq poses a major threat. It’s clear that its weapons of mass destruction need to be dealt with forcefully, and that’s the path we’re on. I think the question becomes whether we can keep the diplomatic balls in the air and not drop any, even as we move forward, as we must, on the military side.” (NPR, Dec. 20, 2002)
“I think the United States government has been clear since the first Bush administration about the threat that Iraq and Saddam Hussein poses. The United States policy has been regime change for many, many years, going well back into the Clinton administration. So it’s a question of timing and tactics. … We do not necessarily need a further Council resolution before we can enforce this and previous resolutions. (NPR, Nov. 11, 2002)
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Susan Rice advocated the US stay in Iraq “for many years to come” (04/03)
From WaPo transcript (response to last question): http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Susan Rice: “To maximize our likelihood of success, the US is going to have to remain committed to and focused on reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq for many years to come. This administration and future ones will need to demonstrate a longer attention span than we have in Afghanistan, and we will have to embrace rather than evade the essential tasks of peacekeeping and nation building. We would be wise to involve as early as is feasible the UN and key allies in the complex tasks of democracy building and reconstruction, and we would be wise to help foster organic internal processes for selecting a new national leadership in Iraq, as the international community did in supporting the loya jirga process in Afghanistan. We can not be seen to select or anoint new Iraqi leaders. We need also to be to be exceedingly careful with the Americans coming in under General Garner to assume governance roles in Iraq.”
Susan Rice swayed the President to pursue a UN authorization for airstrikes in Libya (03/11)
Time Magazine observed in March 24, 2011 issue about Rice’s role in swaying the President:
http://www.time.com/....
As Muammar Gaddafi's troops closed in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on March 15, President Barack Obama put the fate of the city's 1 million residents in the hands of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. At a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) that afternoon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, leery of another war in the Middle East, told Obama a U.N.-proposed no-fly zone would not stop Gaddafi from taking the town. Rice, participating via video teleconference from New York City, said she could get a tougher resolution allowing broader intervention — including the ability to attack armor and ground troops — that would do the trick.
Obama gave Rice the go-ahead . . .
Susan Rice then sought a similar UN authorization for military intervention in Syria (10/11)
Rice was one of the most vociferous champions of international armed intervention against Syria. On October 5, 2011, after Russia and China led a group of countries which vetoed a Security Council resolution similar to that which authorized the use of outside force in Libya. Brazil, India, South Africa and Lebanon abstained. After the vote, Dr. Rice used unusually nondiplomatic language to say that those countries had carried out “a cheap ruse” and, addressing a press confererence after the vote, she said that the Syrians “have been slapped in the face by several members of this Security Council today.”
‘And as I said in the chamber, I think the people of Syria and the people of the region have had today the opportunity to determine who among us stand with the people of the region in their quest for a better future, and who will go to whatever lengths are necessary to defend dictators who are on the warpath. . .
I think Libya has been beat to death, overused, and misused by countries as an excuse by countries to not untake their responsibilities with regard to Syria.”
Susan Rice led the push for the US to join Israel in Confrontation with Iran (09/12)
Dr. Rice has also been the point of the spear in the escalating US confrontation with Iran. Her rhetoric toward that country has been often hostile, played out on the UN stage underlined by gathering regime change operations and economic destabilization under the U.S.-led sanctions regime.
During the past three years, US relations with Iran have steadily deteriorated as the international sanctions regime overseen by Ambassador Rice has intensified. Iran sees the U.S. as playing a see-saw game of threats and economic warfare with Israel to ratchet up pressure and tensions. The Jerusalem Post reported on September 16, 2012: http://www.jpost.com/...
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Sunday that "there is no daylight" between Israel and the United States on the issue of the Iranian nuclear program, in an interview with CNN. The comments came after a media blitz by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the United States. . .
Susan Rice has pushed every Middle East war during this past decade.
If she becomes Secretary of State, chances are she will be a leading voice urging the United States into the next one.
Measure twice. Cut once.
