Rice: We have to look at the overall picture of helping a country recover from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein.
She is sure we have made mistakes but the decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right one.
She gladly stands by helping the Iraq people overthrow a dictactor and having them become strong and our allies over "buying" stability.
We do have acknowledges difficulties abound. The election is a huge step in the right direction. Iraqis must choose leaders, make political compromises. Our role is focus on what we can do to help them build security forces and their economy.
We can talk about what was forseeable and what was not...Some are disappointed...Allawi trying to siphon them off and redirect to help build economy. We must help them create jobs.
Many who are attacking are not mad because they weren't paid by us (Kerry's charge that we didn't keep promises to pay so they turned against us). Rice says they were Baathists or foreign terrorists who have decided to fight in Iraq. They weren't "sitting drinking tea somewhere".
Kerry: I know all this, what are we going to do? Why have we rebuffed offers of other countries like Russia to help? Why have we decided to "go it alone"? There is a frustration out there.
Rice says she addressed who is fighting due to the previous characterizations. She commences to list some countries that are indeed helping. We need to honor.
Rice says she'll check but she is not aware of Russian offers to send forces (which is exactly what Kerry said). He asks about offers to train or some such? Kerry says the Germans say they can do more. Rice says if so, they only need to say so.
Kerry says people told him the elction might destabilize the area of Kirkuk due to the Kurds.
Kerry and RATS would like nothing more than to see civil war in Iraq.
Excellent reporting by you for us cube-bound types.
And if Kerry is aware of these, he should be reporting it to the President, not insinuating it here for his own purposes.