Posted on 07/16/2006 1:25:16 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Israel may need to prolong its offensive in Lebanon to further reduce the threat from Hezbollah, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today, as some Democrats called on her to travel to the region immediately to help defuse the crisis.
Ms. Rice appeared to support a longer-term Israeli effort to inflict decisive damage to Hezbollah’s presence in Lebanon. She also said she was considering a trip to the region.
“A cessation of violence is crucial, but if that cessation of violence is hostage to Hezbollah’s next decision to launch missiles into Israel or Hamas’s next decision to abduct an Israeli citizen, then we will have gotten nowhere,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Ms. Rice’s remarks appeared to put the United States at odds with most of its allies, which have urged an immediate halt to the far-flung Israeli strikes in Lebanon that followed attacks by Hezbollah militants in northern Israel.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This would be a perfect time for Condi to visit Japan and Taiwan... maybe with Rumsfeld in tow. Just a courtesy visit, one with lots and lots of publicity.
Utter nonsense. You must've missed her four years as National Security Advisor. She is well aware of the threats against us and against Israel and she certainly has stated her stance against terrorists and rogue regimes several times.
Her role now, as Sec State, calls for a slightly more toned down level than NSA Advisor did. All Sec States behave like this and it does not make her indecisive in the least.
Further, someone with the education and background of Secretary of State Dr. Condoleeza Rice doesn't deserve an insult comparing her to an anchorette.
ping
Thankfully the current Secy of State gets it, unlike Madeline Notbright.
"You must've missed her four years as National Security Advisor."
Nope, absolutely not. Lotsa feelgood, but no beef.....then or since. But your opinion means as much to me as mine does to you.
The Bush administration had always tried to stay neutral and always urged the Israelis to "restrain" themselves. Even when Israel was losing 20-30 people a day to Palestinian suicide bombings, Bush's response was always that Israel must show "restraint." The administration's response to Israel's military actions against Hezbollah has been quite an about-face. Given Iraq's Shi'ite population might rebel against American forces over this and thus undo much of the progress that has been made there, the administration's nonchalance towards Israel's overwhelming military response has been surprising. Maybe Bush finally realized that his mindless support for democratic elections in places like Lebanon hasn't been very wise.
Words and their exact phrasing are important. I am impressed all the more with Condi's thoughtful use of words. Winging it is not what you want in these situations.
She's a pianist, too. . .every note has to be played in its correct sequence, correct timing, or the beauty of the piece would be lost, and it becomes a different piece.
Everybody's opinions are there own and they have a right to them. I just don't see where there is any factual basis to back up yours. Unless it's based more on your own feelings and perceptions than on fact.
Rice was a much more outspoken NSA after 9-11 than anybody ever had been about islamic terrorism. She regularly appeared on shows and drew connections between terror groups, identified them, called them enemies. During those years she undoubtedly had her hand in the rounding up and defeat of many jihadi's here and around the globe as well as foiled plans for further attacks.
Hardly feelgood.
Take a look at this - ping!
I'm very pleased and impressed that she made this statement!
Pleasant surprise. On the other hand it hasn't even been a week yet.
So much is riding on this. If the enemy is not finished off, if they can bask in any sort of belief they held off Israel while attacking her cities, this will end up a terrible failure. With even worse consequences.
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