Rice is in Way over Her Head by Helen Thomas

[rodeodance]

Published on Friday, August 11, 2006 by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Rice is in Way over Her Head
by Helen Thomas


WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has flunked her first foreign policy crisis in the Middle East.

She went to the turbulent region last month in the early days of the war that began when Hezbollah forces in Lebanon crossed into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.

Rice had orders from President Bush to oppose any immediate cease-fire, which was hardly the proper policy by the United States if it wanted to end the suffering among Israelis and Lebanese.

Rice apparently was dispatched to the Middle East to pass on to Israel the message that it has the green light from the White House to do whatever it wanted and could take more time to clobber the rocket-firing Hezbollah forces in Lebanon despite Lebanese and international pleas for a truce.

Israel has taken that message to heart, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems bent on proving that he can be as tough as his predecessors.

During her trip, Rice was snubbed by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who told her she was not welcome in Beirut if the U.S. did not support an immediate cessation of hostilities.

She was later blindsided in her personal visit with Olmert and other Israeli officials. During the meeting, the Israelis failed to alert Rice of their bombing massacre that day of Lebanese civilians in the village of Qana. The attack evoked worldwide indignation.

Rice was notified of the attack later by e-mail from a State Department staffer. After learning the news of Qana, Rice appeared shaken and stressed out. Perhaps the human dimension of a threadbare foreign policy finally hit home.

Rice is out of her league and seems to have little knowledge about the Middle East. Rice's expertise was always on the now-defunct Soviet Union and the Cold War.

[CatWoman]

1. linky, linky?

[SutaUvaca]

10. Here's a link, not sure if I pasted it right

<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/280842_thomas11.html>

[CatWoman]

15. you did. thanks very much.

and welcome to DU :hi:

[MADem]

2. Need to add a link.....

Rice's expertise was always on the now-defunct Soviet Union and the Cold War.

And that's useful for teaching HISTORY, perhaps, but it has no relationship to what is happening in the world today....

[rodeodance]

7. sorry, but a friend emailed this--but it is from the Seattle Post-Intellig

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[petgoat]

20. I find Rice's background in Soviet studies highly relevant to today.

When she was coming up, there were big bucks to be made
in exaggerating the Soviet military threat. I'd imagine that
the scholars of the time engaged in a lot of wink-wink
doubletalk to cash in. That was the environment in which
she developed her sense of academic integrity, and that's
the sense she's been operating under in Washngton.

When her appointment as Secretary of State was announced, her
former mentor at Stanford, Dr. Gerhard Casper, was approached
by reporters. He refused to comment.

The Nuremberg principles were written for people like her, and
her place is in The Hague.

(Plus she lied to the faces of the 9/11 widows when she said the
"Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US" memo did not warn of new
attacks.)

[MADem]

35. Your point is valid

She has a history of bullshitting, to state it bluntly.

You didn't by chance do your internship with her at JCS, didja?

She never had a problem taking credit for the ideas of others. A total suckup. Pushy as hell, too, and without fair reason to be so.

Not well-regarded by her peers, and that's putting it kindly.

[greenman3610]

40. bush admin is made up of cold warriors

applying the "lessons' of the last war to
a new century where all the rules have
changed.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Rice's expertise: "Da Da ! ....I meant Neyt Neyt!"

[seemslikeadream]

4. NO KIDDING!

[Cleita]

5. We shouldn't expect anything like competence from the

Bushista's cronie hires. Rice isn't able to do the job.

[rodeodance]

6. "Her style is to lecture the leaders of sovereign countries"

Nor does she seek the advice of her former boss, Brent Scowcroft, who served as President George H. W. Bush's national security adviser. Scowcroft is a pro in Middle East diplomacy.

Her style is to lecture the leaders of sovereign countries in the Middle East as though they were school boys. When asked why the U.S. won't talk to the Syrians who she blames for sponsoring Hezbollah, she said: "Syrians have known for a long time what they need to do."

[napi21]

8. Helen is not the only person saying this. I heard a former Ambassador

on CNN about 1 1/2 weeks ago saying what is needed in the ME right now is some expert diplomacy, and Condi has no training in that, nor does this admin!

I think that's what you get when you appoint "only friends" to positions like Sec. of State, Homeland Security Dir, etc. They only know one thing...Yes Sir Mr. Prez!

[YDogg]

9. Here's a link

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/280842_thomas11.html

[bleever]

11. Here's a link:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/280842_thomas11.html

[Double T]

12. rice is outdated and obsolete...........

can we have the next WH candidate for Secretary of State?

[Vidar]

13. Helen nails it, as usual.

[Supersedeas]

16. Odd, how her voice gets very lil play from Big Box Corp Media sources

[Vidar]

37. She shames them by comparison.

[malaise]

14. Thanks Helen

I don't hear anyone shouting Condi for President these days. Condi is burnt rice about to be tossed in the garbage. Adios war criminal :puke: :puke:

[calimary]

17. As usual, Lady Helen pegs it. And let's not forget, about contradicta,

that it was SHE who won the tug-of-war with rummy over postwar Iraq. Remember that? Remember how it was ballyhooed how she beat him out, for this one, and secured the "coordination of postwar Iraq" position? MAN-OH-MAN, contradicta, what a swell job you do! She was in over her head back then, and farther back, still. This is only the latest idiocy she's exhibited. And then she comes on with that tremulous, hesitant little mewly girlie-voice of hers that exudes NO gravitas or credibility whatsoever. If the "deer in the headlights" facial expression had a voice, it'd be HERS, bar none. But I'm sure george finds her good for something... :eyes:

I have heard/read, also (and I forget where I saw this) that people at Stanford regarded her the same way - in over her head as an executive there, no clue about even not having a clue. But she is expert at something that doesn't even exist anymore (the Soviet Union), so let's bring her in to advise and pontificate, shall we?

[Nothing Without Hope]

18. Another article on how Rice is being overruled by Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld:

http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/Condi4.htm
Issue Date: www.insightmag.com - Aug. 8-14, 2006, Posted On: 8/8/2006

Bush and Condi clash over Israel; president overrules her for the first time

Caption: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Bush during an Aug. 7 press conference in Crawford, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(snip)

State Department sources said Ms. Rice has been repeatedly stymied in her attempts to pressure Israel to end strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon. The sources said the secretary's trip to the Middle East last week was torpedoed by the Israeli air strike of a Lebanese village in which 25 people were killed.

"I've never seen her so angry," an aide said.

The U.S. response to the Israeli-Hezbollah war was said to have divided both the administration as well as the family of President George W. Bush. At the same time, it marked the first time since Ms. Rice became secretary of state that the president has overruled her.

"For the last 18 months, Condi was given nearly carte blanche in setting foreign policy guidelines," a senior government source familiar with the issue said. "All of a sudden, the president has a different opinion and he wants the last word."

(snip)

[rodeodance]

25. thanks.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. The Rice woman was in over her head when she quit her gig as ......

...... Little Boots' baby sitter (on Poppy's payroll) and went to work for the boy king directly.

She was an adequate political babysitter. She's shit as a policy maker or strategic advisor and just plain horrible at diplomacy.

[long_green]

42. Little Boots? Nice, subtle reference

nm

[opihimoimoi]

21. Rice is way over her head...She was a very poor choice for this post

of SoS.

Bush has a habit of picking cronies

[ChairmanAgnostic]

23. but but but - how about a promotion? President Condi?

I need a bucket.



wait, I am not done.
perhaps, another bucket.

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. I don't think she'll be feeling very lonely, somehow.

[oasis]

24. Condi will forever be associated with the phrase "who knew?".

[dpbrown]

26. They're trying to bring back the "cold war"...on terrah!

That's what these neocon nutballs are all about.

[Mike Nelson]

27. Coni would have been just as lame at Cold War...

politics... probably MORE lame. The Soviets would have eaten her up and spit her out.

[texpatriot2004]

28. That's the truth! nm

[sweetheart]

29. what the hell is a provost anyway?

Stanford is supposed to be a reputable university, and if provost is a post of higher rank
than a toilet cleaner, they've got to answer for how she held a post when in fact being far
from capable in a higher learning institution given her performance.

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. The sad part is that Condi

fancies herself has the next US President.

[indepat]

31. Was Madame Secretary out of her league in the day prior to 9-11 or

was she maybe just being a good little soldier, or what?

[Imagevision]

32. Rice plays the piano over there while Israel jets kill more civilians...

[ReadTomPaine]

33. This woman is a treasure.

She should be the one selected to report from The Hague when the trials for war crimes begin.

[Cha]

34. And Helen Thomas is

Lebanese American so it must be especially sad for her right now!

[Kurovski]

36. K&R.(nt)

[lebkuchen]

38. When Condi first took the job, she said the US would not get involved

in the Middle East crisis. Whether that was because she didn't know squat about the area or not, I couldn't say. But her involvement now is belated, to say the least.

[Disturbed]

39. She has expertise in buying expensive shoes.

She should have been a shoe buyer for a high dollar Retail Corp.

[Nostradammit]

41. Wasn't she the National Security Advisor on September 11, 2001?

How'd she do with that?