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Breaking News on Cover of Newsweek: The Quiet Power of Condi Rice -- Bush's Secret Weapon
Newsweek Magazine and MSNBC ^ | 12/10/2002 | Evan Thomas

Posted on 12/10/2002 8:10:01 AM PST by ex-Texan

Breaking News on Cover of Newsweek: The Quiet Power of Condi Rice -- Bush's Secret Weapon

Born in ‘Bombingham,’ the enigmatic adviser has become the ‘Warrior Princess’—Bush’s secret White House weapon

By Evan Thomas

Dec. 16 issue — The vice president had gone too far. In a speech to the VFW on Aug. 26, Dick Cheney declared that a return of U.N. inspectors to Iraq could bring only “false comfort.” The obvious implication, at least to reporters covering the speech, was that the United States would have to go it alone to knock off Saddam Hussein and eliminate his weapons of mass destruction. The speech drew big headlines and stirred talk of war; within the Bush administration, it was a source of some consternation.

AT THE STATE Department, Secretary Colin Powell was more than a little vexed. He thought the administration had decided, in a private meeting of Bush’s war cabinet, to give diplomacy another chance and work through the United Nations before plunging into war in Iraq. Were the war hawks, Powell wondered, trying to pull a fast one and force the president’s hand? Down at his ranch in Texas, President George W. Bush did not question the vice president’s motives, but he, too, was perturbed by the potential fallout. Had the vice president’s speech, however inadvertently, boxed him in? It was time for someone to have a quiet word with Cheney. The president’s emissary was his national-security adviser, a trim 48-year-old woman with a wide, warm smile, a polite manner and an unmistakable steeliness. Meeting with the vice president at the White House, Condoleezza Rice was friendly and low key. Cheney’s speech, she blandly suggested, had been “interpreted” by the press in a way that might “limit the president’s options.”

Rice waited for Cheney himself to suggest a solution. The veep said he was giving another speech in a couple of days. He would tone down the derisive language about inspectors and leave the door open for the United States to work through the United Nations. The newspapers duly noted the shift in the vice president’s tone, but Rice’s intercession did not leak.

UTTERLY UNFLAPPABLE

Quiet, respectful, anonymous—but firm, just the way the president wanted it. Rice’s aides call her the “anti-Kissinger,” meaning that she does not need to show off her influence or present herself as a master global strategist like Henry Kissinger. That may be in part because Rice is not a strategic genius, but no one doubts her power. Rice’s aides also refer to her (affectionately) as the “Warrior Princess.” She is proud, elegant, fastidious about her appearance (she keeps two mirrors in her office, so she can see her back as well as her front) and utterly unflappable. Rice has Bush’s complete confidence; she speaks for the president, and everyone knows it. The harder question is how much she influences his thinking and his decisions.

Rice’s role bears watching as the president faces a critical turning point in his long-running face-off with Saddam. According to knowledgeable sources, Rice played an important behind-the-scenes part in convincing Bush that he had to try to disarm Iraq with U.N. inspectors before sending in the military to do the job by force. Now her task is to try to make sure the inspection regime is real and not a sham. Last week Rice met with chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix to press him to take a hard line: to remove Iraqi officials (and their families) to a safe place where they can tell the truth about Saddam’s WMD program. And over the weekend, Rice’s team began poring over the 12,000-page Iraqi report on its arsenal—and building the case that Saddam was already in breach of the U.N. resolution.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: condi; condiricereport; condoleezza; ravesforcondi
On the cover of Newsweek this morning. This a great article. Many flattering photos of Condi.

Think this ought to teach the Dims about how real Black Leaders Are Making Policy on the Bush Team.

1 posted on 12/10/2002 8:10:01 AM PST by ex-Texan
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To: ex-Texan
The Quiet Power of Condi Rice
2 posted on 12/10/2002 8:12:56 AM PST by Incorrigible
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To: ex-Texan
meaning that she does not need to show off her influence or present herself as a master global strategist

Who is our national strategist? I have a few questions.

3 posted on 12/10/2002 8:21:49 AM PST by Joe Hadenuf
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To: ex-Texan
I know I already posted this before, but I can't wait for the Condi-Hillary smackdown during the debates in '08. Condi is going kick "the world's smartest woman's" candy ass while the media and the liberals look on in horror.

Hey Hillary CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE CONDI...IS...COOKING?

I can just see Bill running around the ring in his pimp outfit screaming "C'mon ref-give me a break. She's using the Condi death stare again."

4 posted on 12/10/2002 8:24:31 AM PST by MattinNJ
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To: MattinNJ
Check out the links on that MSNBC site. Great photos of Condi playing piano in concert, working out every morning, growing up to be Great, and meeting with President Bush.

The Dims bring in Jesse Jackson for protest marches over nonissues. The Republicans have real Black Leaders who make policy. DUH!

'Our First Black President' was a total fraud and a closet racist who used the 'N' word all the time. Blowjob Bill rest in peace.

5 posted on 12/10/2002 8:35:39 AM PST by ex-Texan
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To: ex-Texan
"Blowjob Bill rest in peace."

YOU are much nicer than I.

6 posted on 12/10/2002 8:58:04 AM PST by goodnesswins
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To: ex-Texan
We need a 'Condi Rice - Warrior Princess' movie poster.
7 posted on 12/11/2002 7:25:45 AM PST by Grig
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To: Grig; GraniteStateConservative; Coop; Pokey78; Miss Marple; PhiKapMom
We need a 'Condi Rice - Warrior Princess' movie poster.

Well, while not exactly a "warrior princess" pose, nonetheless, I can supply Condi with that "anime" touch...

Be Seeing You,

Chris

8 posted on 12/11/2002 7:31:51 AM PST by section9
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To: MattinNJ
CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE CONDI...IS...COOKING?

It's "SMELL-LL-LL-LL-LUH"

: )

9 posted on 12/11/2002 7:37:26 AM PST by GraniteStateConservative
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