5 posts tagged “condi rice”
I first heard on FOX News yesterday that Condi Rice may be looking to coax a VP nomination out of McCain. Then I ran into an April 6 post of an ABC blog called Political Radar which reports Secretary Rice is ACTIVELY seeking the Republican nomination for Vice President.
Here are my brief thoughts on that prospect.
The Condi Rice that was GW’s National Security Advisor was a person I saw with admiral skill and eloquence. I toyed with the concept of a Black Female Republican Presidential nomination of that Condi Rice. I even thought of it more when her National Security Advisor skills found her moving upward to Secretary of State.
Then there is the Secretary of State Condi Rice.
Since becoming head of the State Department Rice seems to have been overwhelmed by State Department bureaucrats that fought the Bush Doctrine from its inception as a concept to promote America’s National Interests.
If it was not for a strong Israel lobby these old dog bureaucrats view of America’s National Interests lay in placating Arab nations that are friendlier (not necessarily friendly) to America at the expense of the Middle East’s only successful Western Style Democratic Nation – Israel.
Since Rice has become Secretary of State the Global War on Terror only exists in Iraq and Afghanistan even though ALL of the PLO and Hamas in particular have committed acts of aggression against America.
Divorcing the Palestinian Terrorists from the Global War on Terror has moved the Bush Administration into forcing the issue of a Two-State solution of the existence to the Land of Israel and a sovereign nation of Palestine. This drive to force the existence of Palestine is occurring even though the concerted goal of Palestinian Terrorists is the elimination of Israel as a nation with the giddy dream of wiping Jews out in the Middle East.
Secretary Rice’s push for a Two-State solution indirectly aid’s the Palestinian goal of the destruction of Israel.
So do I think Condi Rice should be a VP consideration for McCain? NO.
JRH (Hat tip PoliPundit.com)
Has anyone noticed that President Bush has morphed on his support for Israel? For that matter Condoleezza Rice also seems to have morphed when she was elevated from National Security Advisor to Secretary of State? When Rice was in the National Security position I even considered her a potential Republican Presidential candidate.
The President and Rice seem to have swung their pendulum toward the Arabs as a means to reach an end of Israeli/Arab strife. Bush has gone from supporting Israel and relying on Israeli Intelligence to forcing Israel into a position of an existential crisis and ignoring Israeli Intelligence.
There is the appearance that the only Western style democracy in the Middle East is becoming expendable as an ally toward the old career State Department bureaucracy favoritism of cuddling with Arabs.
An extrapolation can be made that the Bush Administration has aligned foreign policy evaluation on the level of the EU which blames Israel for all the violence in the Middle East when all the little sliver of a nation is doing is surviving as a Land for Jews to come to where the government respects their Faith and/or Jewish background (amazingly innumerable Jews have abandoned their Faith in favor of Leftist utopian thinking yet still ascribe to their Jewishness).
In Europe the plague of anti-Semitism seems to be growing as Mohammedan immigrants seem to grow larger inciting indigenous Europeans back toward an anti-Semitic mind-set.
I suspect the War on Terrorism is not concluding as Bush envisioned it would in his pro-active days; thus in his last days of President he trying to forge an Arab inclusion to join America on the War on Terrorism (transnational terrorists). To do that, I suspect Bush has decided concessions have to be made to Arabs concerning creating a Palestinian Sovereign Terrorist State even if it is a future threat to Israeli existence.
Read Bill Mehlman’s The Bush Metamorphosis which captured my thoughts of the Bush Administration's political swing. Mehlman is not as specific in his thoughts probably because he is a journalist and I am a blogger; however Mehlman inspire one to think of the long haul transformation of Bush toward Israel.
Secretary of State Condi Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson made joint statements announcing sanctions on Iran and explaining the reasoning for the sanctions.
The sanctions in a nutshell are tagged into Iran’s insistence of creating weapons grade uranium which is a quality way beyond needed for peaceful nuclear energy.
A few subdivision reasonings surrounded Iran’s constant threatening of Israel and America for interfering with the Iranian nuke program, the Revolutionary Guard and the Quds Force actively supplying arms and training to terrorists from the Taliban, Shi’ites in Iraq, Hamas of pseudo-Palestinians and Hezbollah.
It is now illegal for business to be conducted with Iran wherever there is American jurisdiction and whatever Iranian assets under Iranian jurisdiction will be frozen.
The official government stand is that this is not a prelude to war with Iran; however Presidential statements, Vice Presidential statements and now State/Treasury statements are a chain of aggressive wording that has all the appearances of daring Iran to cross the line in the sand (if they already have not done so).
I can’t wait to hear the official Iranian response to today’s turning of the screws of pressure on Iran to comply with American led International wishes.
Fred Kagan writes about the significance of President Bush arriving in Iraq on America’s Labor Day Holiday. Kagan notes the American dignitaries that the President brought with him and Iraq dignitaries that joined him. And most importantly Kagan writes of the significance of the location within Iraq of this coalition of high government dignitaries of America and Iraq – Anbar Province.
And thus Kagan is comparing the Presidential visit to Anbar as a historical Presidential visit to Gettysburg: a point in time when the fortunes of war are turning to the favor of the legitimate representatives of Government as opposed to the representatives of rebellion and illegitimate authority.
JRH 9/4/07
*************************
The Gettysburg of This War
This Bush visit could well mark a key turning point in the war in Iraq and the war on terror.
By Frederick W. Kagan
September 3, 2007 5:00 PM
National Review Online
President Bush’s Labor Day visit to Iraq should have surprised no one who was paying attention. At such a critical point in the debate over Iraq policy, it was almost inconceivable that he would fly to and from Australia without stopping in Iraq. What was surprising was the precise location and nature of the visit. Instead of flying into Baghdad and surrounding himself with his generals and the Iraqi government, Bush flew to al Asad airfield, west of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province. He brought with him his secretaries of State and Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the commander of U.S. Central Command. He was met at al Asad by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kemal al Maliki, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and Vice Presidents Adel Abdul Mehdi and Tariq al Hashemi. In other words, Bush called together all of the leading political and military figures in his administration and the Iraqi government in the heart of Anbar Province. If ever there was a sign that we have turned a corner in the fight against both al Qaeda in Iraq and the Sunni insurgency, this was it.
Anbar, as everyone knows, has been one of the hotbeds and the most important base for both the Sunni rejectionist insurgency and al Qaeda in Iraq since 2003. It has been one of the most violent provinces in Iraq, and one of the most dangerous for American soldiers and Marines, until recently. Now it is one of the safest
— safe enough for the war cabinet of the United States of America to meet there with the senior leadership of the government of Iraq to discuss strategy. Instead of talking about how to convince the Anbaris that the Sunni will not retake power in Iraq any time soon, Bush, Maliki, Petraeus, Talabani, and Crocker talked about how to get American and Iraqi aid and reconstruction money flowing more rapidly to the province as a reward for its dramatic and decisive turn against AQI and against the Sunni rejectionist insurgency. In any other war, with any other president, this event would be recognized for what it is: the sign of a crucial victory over two challenges that had seemed both unconquerable and fatal. It should be recognized as at least the Gettysburg of this war, to the extent that ... More at SlantRight
Could Vice President Cheney’s health be the Left Wing dream? There is speculation that Cheney might resign as Vice President. The resignation would not be because of Slanted Left hateraide rather it would be due to the heart condition that has plagued him ever since Cheney became Vice President.
Things change rapidly in the realm of politics, thus the speculation is possible; however Cheney has been touring the Middle East with a strong arm stop in Pakistan. This is not the picture of a person stepping down due to bad health.
If Cheney were to step down and President Bush selected Secretary of State Condi Rice to be Vice President for the remainder of this Administration’s term, it would have ramifications on Republican candidates running for the Presidential nomination. I do not know what the effect would be, however the effect would be subject to Rice’s Choices of a post Vice Presidency.
