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Rice updates NABJ on security issuesBy Josef Sawyer NABJ Convention Online Staff A visibly nervous National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice spoke on a wide range of topics including the Iraq war, Sept. 11, Liberia and affirmative action in an address to NABJ yesterday. Rice denied allegations that she considered resigning after news broke that flawed CIA information made it into President Bush’s State of the Union Address. She accepted blame for the controversy over the “16 words” and defended Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. “The fact is this was a very powerful case,” she said. “He went to war for the right reasons and history will prove him right. The president of the United States did not go to war on whether or not Saddam Hussein tried to get ‘yellow cake’ from Africa.” Although no evidence has been found that such weapons exist, Rice said she remains confident that it will be discovered. In her hour-long speech, Rice told the audience that the country is experiencing a time similar to the World War II era. “The horrific suffering and catastrophic costs of two European wars in less than 30 years convinced the United States to work in partnership with Europeans to make another war in Europe unthinkable . . . By helping to build a free, democratic, prosperous, and tolerant Europe,” Rice said. Rice also said progress is being made with China and other nations to disarm North Korea president Kim Jong II. “Kim Jong II doesn’t have many choices, he has said he needs to enter the international system for economic reasons and for political reasons,” she said. “So you are better off to give up your nuclear ambitions and then there is a path into the international community.” Rice defended her position on affirmative action and tried to clear up rumors she urged the Bush Administration to oppose the admissions program at University of Michigan. “I don’t think that giving people points for race or anything else is a very good idea,” Rice said. Seconds later she made a seemingly contradictory statement. “Race is one factor among many you ought to take into consideration when you are deciding whether that person deserves college admission,” she said. She gradually relaxed and recounted remarks made by Bush days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that the war on terrorism cannot be a defensive war. After the talk, some attendees said they felt Rice’s speech was bland and that she came off as a mouthpiece for Bush. “That speech could have been given to any audience and I am tired of Bush and Rice using the same rhetoric they would for a group of right wing Republicans instead of addressing our issues,” said George Curry, editor of the National Newspapers Publishers Association. Angela Forest, a reporter for the North Carolina Herald Sun, voiced similar sentiments. “People don’t understand why she is a Republican and posses these values that are not in line with the majority of black people,” Forest said. |
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