Rice tells US Congress — ???
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is testifying today to the U.S. Congress on the state of preparations for the Middle East Peace Conference (or “meeting”) that is still expected to be held in Annapolis by the end of the year.
In her opening statement at the hearing called by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rice said: “The United States has enduring national interests in the Middle East: economic, geopolitical, security and moral values. For more than six decades, over the course of many administrations, American leaders of both parties have worked for peace and security in the region, not always perfectly, but consistently. The Middle East is now and will remain one of the most strategically important parts of the world for our national interest and for international security. Therefore, the United States will never retreat from our commitments in the Middle East. The goal we seek is a secure and peaceful region. But for that peace and security to be lasting, not false stability, it must be rooted in what President Bush calls the “non-negotiable demands of human dignity” — the rule of law, limits on state power, free speech, religious liberty, equal justice, property rights, tolerance of difference and respect for women. These values are a source of success for nations across the world and they are the only ideas that can give people in the Middle East a future of modernity with dignity. This, we believe, will ultimately defeat the ideology of violent extremism and thus ensure our security”.
Hopefully, she will explain all this a bit more in response to the Committee members’ questions …
UPDATE: Rice told the Congressmen that the peace conference should happen by the end of the year, though it still isn’t scheduled yet. She said that the “window of opportunity” would close unless there were real progress towards the establishment of a Palestinian state, and she explained that the U.S. Administration was taking a higher profile and making more of a hands-on effort to bring Israeli and Palestinian negotiators together because, in part, Iran was causing difficulties through its support of Hamas. According to the Associated Press, Rice added that “the policies of Iran constitute perhaps the single greatest challenge for American security interest in the Middle East and possibly around the world …”
Yes, a woman with her hands painted red to look like blood came right up to Rice and shouted that Rice was a war criminal, but Rice remained calm…
Filed under: Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet
[...] A few days ago, Rice said something that should have made our ears perk up, in testimony to U.S. Congressmen at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee [See the post “Rice tells US Congress — ???” on our sister log, UN-Truth, here.] [...]