Category: Condoleezza Rice

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Imagine That! Condoleezza Rice Has Some Questions about Benghazi

Yep. You heard that right. Condoleezza Rice, one of the main authors of this country’s biggest foreign policy failures, falsifying information to start a war in Iraq where hundreds of thousands of people were killed, has the nerve to talk about Benghazi, and insinuated that there might be a cover-up by the Obama administration.

In an interview with Ozy.com published Thursday, Rice said the public still has questions about the security situation in the lead-up to the attacks and the circumstances on the ground during the attacks.

“I think there are unanswered questions and they could be easily answered. But I think they need to be answered,” Rice said.

Rice, who was the nation’s chief diplomat during the administration of George W. Bush, expressed optimism that the committee House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) recently tasked with investigating the September 2012 attacks on diplomatic outposts could answer the outstanding questions.

“When the House says that it wishes to investigate something, it has a right to do that. And so I think done in the right way with the right cooperation we can put this to rest and that’s how I would handle it at this point,” she said.

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Condoleezza Rice Politics

Condoleezza Rice Warns GOP – Be More Inclusive to Women and People of Color

Words if wisdom coming from the woman who is probably the last black woman left in the Republican party.

Secretary Rice recently urged the GOP to be more inclusive and inviting to women and people of color.  The GOP is facing a demographic shift that will allow them to compete gerrymandered House districts but that will make them obsolete in the long run as a national party.

On the issue of immigration, Secretary Rice said, “We have a responsibility to those who do not yet have the liberties and the rights that we enjoy..We cannot abandon them … We were once them.”

According to census data by 2020, deep red states like Texas could finally turn blue, thanks to an emerging majority of Latino voters.  Simply put, the math doesn’t do the GOP any favors.

In 2012, 71 percent of Latinos voted for President Obama.  According to Pew, the Latino vote helped Democrats win in three critical battleground states: Florida, Nevada, and Colorado.  And while immigration continues to dominate the discussion surrounding Latinos currently, it’s the economy and jobs that topped the list of issues the community cared about most in the last presidential election cycle.

And despite the GOP paying lip service to communities of color about “reaching out” not much has changed since they got pummeled in 2012.  The Republican party does not have anything to offer and has stuck in an endless loop of faux investigations and symbolic Obamacare repeal votes.  Their lack of policy proposals that will help Latinos in any way shape or form, is partially to blame for their lack of support.  Their open hostility to diversity and occasional refusal to see Latino people as humans is also likely a major factor.

You’re wasting your time Ms Rice. The Republicans have already gerrymandered their districts to avoid reaching out to anyone who is not an old white and male. Women and people of color can just keep it moving. They are not a necessary part of the Republican equation.

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Barack Obama Condoleezza Rice Dick Cheney Osama bin Laden Osama BinLaden Politics United States Waterboarding

Torture Had Nothing To Do With Finding Osama Bin Laden

We have all heard their claims, that former President George Bush is equally responsible for bringing down Osama Bin Laden as our current President, Barack Obama. And these Bush lovers credit the torturing and water-boarding of prisoners as the only pathway that led to Bin Laden.

Are they right? Is the Obama administration wrong for ending torture and abiding by the rules in the Geneva Convention – a treaty that America is a signatory to? A treaty that clearly states in Article 27;

Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. They shall, at all times, be humanely treated, and shall be protected, especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity.

If we listen to the likes of Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, we would be led to think that torture is the best thing since slice bread. But branch out a little and listen to others in the business of getting intelligence, and you’ll understand why torture or “enhanced interrogation,” loses its effect after a while.

Forbes today released an interview with a top United States interrogator in Afghanistan, who claimed that “torture played no role in locating Osama bin Laden.” According to the report, this interrogator refers to the support for torture made by former Bush administration officials as “propaganda [that] degrades our intelligence operations more than any other factor I can think of.”

He continues;

“Listen, water-boarding and/or other coercive techniques did nothing to contribute to our attempts to track down UBL (Usama bin Laden). What did succeed was weeks, months and years of diligent, laborious, and dedicated work – all within the bounds of legal and ethical boundaries…No torture, no waterboarding, no coercion – nothing inhumane – is considered a useful tool in our work.

I cannot even count the amount of times that I personally have come face to face with detainees, who told me they were primarily motivated to do what they did, because of hearing that we committed torture. Even the rumor of torture is enough to convince an army of uneducated and illiterate, yet religiously motivated young boys to strap bombs to their chests and blow themselves up while killing whoever happens to be around – police, soldiers, civilians, women, or children. Torture committed by Americans in the past continues to kill Americans today.”

But why would Cheney and Rice listen to anything an interrogator says? Torture was their policy. It had nothing to do with American exceptionalism, finding terrorists or saving the lives of American troops deployed abroad. It was their interrogation practice of choice.

Torture violates the very  moral fabric of who we are as Americans and admitting it was wrong means their policies were wrong as well. And that is what it all boils down to… politics 101.

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Condoleezza Rice Still Drinking Bush Tea – The Interview

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sat down for an exclusive interview with Lawrence O’ Donnell last night, and continued her defense of the Bush administration and their decisions to invade Iraq. She also credits Mr. Bush for the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden, saying that a lot of the things Bush did, directly lead to Bin Laden’s demise.

When Lawrence pointed out that the decision to go into Iraq was wrong and based on a flawed report, Miss Rice got irritated and threatened to walk out on the interview.

Five months after September 11th 2001, the Bush administration shifted focus from Afghanistan and zeroed in on Iraq. One would think that after this interview, the reasons would be more clear. One would be wrong to think that.

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