Really? Now. Right now is the time for diplomacy? You mean BEFORE we got involved in a quagmire in Iraq and lost over 1,000 American lives and god knows how many Iraqis in this lurch to freedom wasn't the time. But NOW. Now is the time? Fuck you.Rice: 'The time for diplomacy is now'
Secretary of state nominee faces Senate panel
Tuesday, January 18, 2005 Posted: 10:22 AM EST (1522 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Condoleezza Rice is expected to face some tough questions at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but Capitol Hill observers say she will ultimately be confirmed as secretary of state.
Rice stressed the importance of diplomacy, democracy and freedom Tuesday morning in her opening remarks to the panel.
"September 11, 2001, was a defining moment for our nation and the world," she said. "Under the vision and leadership of President Bush, our nation has risen to meet the challenges of our time: fighting tyranny and terror, and securing the blessings of freedom and prosperity for a new generation.
"Now is the time to build on these achievements to make the world safer, and to make the world more free. We must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favors freedom. And the time for diplomacy is now."
In a show of bipartisanship, California Democrat Diane Feinstein introduced Rice before she was sworn in to testify.
Committee chairman Richard Lugar opened the hearing by praising Rice for her accomplishments and public service.
"The enormously complex job before Dr. Rice will require all of her talents and experience," he said. "American credibility in the world, progress in the war on terrorism, our relationships with our allies will be greatly affected by the secretary of state's actions and the effectiveness of the State Department in the coming years."
Lugar listed a string of issues the next secretary of state would face, including the Middle East peace process, the threat of nuclear proliferation, the human rights situation in Sudan and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, the ranking member of the committee said he planned to vote for Rice and said he expected her to be confirmed, but said that he had concerns about the Bush administration's international policies.
"We inspire as much envy and resentment as we do admiration and gratitude, even if we do everything correctly, in my view," Biden said. "But the fact is relations with many of our oldest friends are, quite frankly, scraping the bottom right now and we need to heed the advice of the president of the United States just before his first inaugural when he talked about acting with humility as well as force."
Democrats were expected to grill Rice about her role in the handling of faulty intelligence reports leading to the invasion of Iraq and her handling of terror warnings before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Some also say Rice may be too close to President Bush to be an effective Cabinet secretary -- unlike outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has been seen as a moderating influence.
"When you look at a secretary of defense who has been as forceful and effective as Donald Rumsfeld, for good or for ill, he's a tough customer," said Susan Rice, a former adviser to Sen. John Kerry's failed presidential campaign.
"She'll have to show whether she has the stuff to stand up and fight."
As Bush's national security adviser, Rice did not have to testify under oath to Congress, so Democrats are eager to question her.
In the months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Rice was among the leading administration officials who warned that Iraq was harboring stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction -- claims that have turned out to be incorrect. (Full story)
For example, Rice said Iraq tried to buy thousands of high-strength aluminum tubes that were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs" and said U.S. intelligence suggested that Iraqis had helped the al Qaeda terrorist network to develop chemical weapons.
But both the Department of Energy and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, determined the tubes were meant to be used in artillery rockets.
And the independent commission investigating the September 11 attacks found there was no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda.
Rice faced heated questioning from the 9/11 commission in April, after former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke went public with claims that the Bush administration botched warnings of the al Qaeda hijacking plot.
She said the administration "would have moved heaven and earth" to stop the attack had they known they were coming. "And I know that there was no single thing that might have prevented that attack." (Full story)
But leaders of both parties say that -- like Alberto Gonzales, Bush's pick to lead the Justice Department -- Rice will get the job after a few hard questions get asked. (Full story)
Powell said last week that he expected the hearing "will go swimmingly," and that Rice could be confirmed and sworn in soon after Bush's inauguration on Thursday.
Allies like Allen say Rice will preview the theme of Bush's inaugural address -- spreading democracy around the world.
And they say Rice's personal story of growing up in the segregated South will help her carry that banner on the world stage.
Born a minister's daughter in segregated Alabama in 1954, Rice entered college at 15 and by 26 had earned a doctorate in international affairs.
She was an expert on the Soviet Union in the first Bush administration and tutored the current president on international policy during the 2000 campaign before becoming his national security adviser.
If confirmed, Rice would be the first black woman -- and only the second woman -- to head the State Department. The first woman was Madeleine Albright, in the Clinton administration.
"As we try to advance freedom for all people in the world, regardless of their race or their gender or their ethnicity or their religious beliefs, I think her own life experiences make her even a stronger person to advocate the concepts of freedom," Allen said.
), Ebola Zaire. And that's not even taking into account all the bacterial goodies they've got.
