Critics of US policy are racist, says Rice

Telegraph ^ | 09/08/2003 | David Rennie in Washington

[demlosers]

Condoleezza Rice, the most senior black woman in the Bush administration, has levelled a charge of racism against critics of the US drive to bring Western freedoms to the Middle East.

In an unusually personal speech, Miss Rice, the national security adviser to President George W Bush, said the push to bring democracy and free markets to the Middle East was "the moral mission of our time", to be compared with the civil rights movement that ended racial segregation in America.

Miss Rice rarely plays on her upbringing in Birmingham, Alabama - a hotbed of racial strife in the Sixties, culminating in the fatal bombing of a black church. However, addressing the National Association of Black Journalists in Dallas, she used that personal history to issue a direct challenge to all those critical of the Bush administration's ambitions in Iraq and beyond.

"Like many of you, I grew up around the home-grown terrorism of the 1960s. I remember the bombing of the church in Birmingham in 1963, because one of the little girls that died was a friend of mine," she said.

Black Americans should stand by others seeking freedom today, she went on, and shun the "condescending" argument that some races or nations were not interested in or ready for Western freedoms.

"We've heard that argument before. And we, more than any, as a people, should be ready to reject it," she said. "That view was wrong in 1963 in Birmingham and it is wrong in 2003 in Baghdad and in the rest of the Middle East."

Miss Rice was questioned about her role in approving the president's State of the Union address, with its now infamous claim that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa.

She expressed remorse for the episode, saying she had read a top-secret national intelligence report that expressed doubts about the uranium connection "cover to cover, a couple of times".

But she played down the importance of the claims. "Of course the president did not go to war over whether Saddam Hussein tried to get yellow cake from Africa," she said.

[dark_lord]

How dare she call those Lib-Dem Leftists racist! Why, she is a Republican, after all! Republicans cannot call anyone racist, they ARE racists, each and every one. Why everyone KNOWS that the goal of each and every Republican is to bring back the days when they can each have their very own 'house-mammy' and 'yard-boy', slavin' away for Massa! </sarcasm>

[cubreporter]

Ms. Rice.

She is brilliant
She is sharp as a tack.
She is honorable
She has character.
She has dignity.
She has integrity
She has respect for her country
She has respect for her flag
She has compassion
She is a true American

She has all this yet has managed to maintain her feminity and conduct herself at all times like a dignified lady.

Ms. Rice is the best! We are lucky to have her.

[daddypatriot]

Condi for President!

[zarf]

Where does one find a woman like this who would want to marry a guy still living in a basement apartment and sleeping on a futon?

[Maceman]

Where does one find a woman like this who would want to marry a guy still living in a basement apartment and sleeping on a futon?

In your dreams?

[anniegetyourgun]

Look at the bright side...you can only go up from there.

[decimon]

Where does one find a woman like this who would want to marry a guy still living in a basement apartment and sleeping on a futon?

You didn't specify an age group.

[Grampa Dave]

You win an autographed picture of a futon for the best reply to poor Zarf!

In your dreams?

[cubreporter]

Looks like it's gonna be a long search, huh? :)

[CaptIsaacDavis]

AND WHY NOT ASIA? CHINA, NORTH KOREA, VIETNAM, ETC.?

WHY NOT LATIN AMERICA? BRAZIL, CUBA, VENEZUELA?


Very odd statement -- she is losing her nerve.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[rabidralph]

Hey, hey! One region at a time. Please!

[squidly]

Where does one find a woman like this who would want to marry a guy still living in a basement apartment and sleeping on a futon?

You just gotta hang out the same places she does, buy her a drink or a cup of coffee, ask her if she wants to go see Seabiscuit with you, etc. Just like any other woman.:)

[zarf]

Gee, thanks man...you're swell.

[vpintheak]

This needs to get more play, because we all know that the root of this problem is racism directed against Isreal and the Jews. We got in the mix for a lot of reasons, some not so good, but it is our support of the Jews that drives the Arabs and their sympathisers world wide insane with racial hatred.