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Rice Admits She Didn’t Think Iraq "Would Be This Tough", Blames Iraqis for Violence

Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress at 10:29 AM on March 28, 2008.


Perhaps one casualty of the Iraq war has been the conservative belief in personal responsibility.
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Rice

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Speaking to a group of journalists yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted that she didn’t think the war in Iraq would be as “this tough“:

Looking back on the last five years and the war in Iraq, Rice admitted: “I thought it would be tough, but I didn’t think it would be this tough.” She added, “It’s a society that’s only now beginning to emerge.”

But just like any other good Iraq war supporter, Rice deflected blame for the “long, hard slog” in Iraq away from the Bush administration and onto other pre-war factors. Rice said the United Nations sanctions killed Iraq’s agricultural sector and the “structural problem” of Saddam Hussein’s regime is dissuading Iraqis from making political progress:

– On the continuing struggle in Iraq Rice said she thought it was more of a “structural problem.” […] The secretary warned that “authoritarian regimes are not going to create the condition for the emergence of moderate parties [in the Middle East].”
– “What we didn’t know was how truly broken the society was,” she said. Although Saddam Hussein’s regime was mostly to blame for that, she said that U.N. sanctions contributed as well, because as a result of them, “agriculture is virtually dead in Iraq.”

Apparently, the "shock and awe" bombing campaign had little responsibility for "breaking" Iraqi society. Blaming Iraqis for the continued violence in Iraq is a fairly common strategy for those who advocated for the invasion of Iraq and are now trying to distance themselves from the disaster that ensued.

War hawk and AEI fellow Danielle Pletka recently wrote in the New York Times that she “was wrong” to think that “once free,” the Iraqis “would use it well” adding that “[t]here is no freedom gene, no inner guide that understands the virtues of civil society, of secret ballots, of political parties.” Like Rice, Pletka also blamed Saddam, saying he “conditioned Iraqis to accept unearned leadership, to embrace sect and tribe over ideas, and to tolerate unbridled corruption.”

Perhaps one casualty of the Iraq war has been the conservative belief in personal responsibility.

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Tagged as: iraq, rice

Benjamin J. Armbruster is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.


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You lying sack of shit
Posted by: hurricane hugo on Mar 28, 2008 10:33 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Then again, you're probably stupid enough to actually believe your own spewage.

jdfu!

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» RE: You lying sack of shit Posted by: VZEQICVA
» RE: You lying sack of shit Posted by: Quannah
Still stupid
Posted by: Kitty Lady Oregon on Mar 28, 2008 10:57 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Iraqi society was in trouble before the invasion, not due to Saddam Hussein, but more due to the constant bombing by the US of the coutnry. Saddam was building palaces, not bombs. Anybody who had a half brain would have known that there was no way they could have built WMDs under the circumstances.Iraq was in a box. SH was a bad guy, but we are no better.

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» What about de-bathification Posted by: realist
Blood Red dress, how appropriate!
Posted by: PaulC on Mar 28, 2008 11:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
To begin, it is appropriate that she is dressed in deep red, because she is covered in blood - bathed in it - for no reason other than personal gain.

> The secretary warned that “authoritarian regimes are not going to create the condition for the emergence of moderate parties [in the Middle East].”

It helps that the author clarified that Rice was referring to the Middle East, and not the United States, because it very easily could be a reference to what her regime has done to our own country, alienating fully half the population - hell, literally declaring them persona non grata and waging a scorched earth campaign on the US Constitution and our very way of life.

Indeed, it is the politics of division and disregard for the working men and women of this nation, as well as unparalleled corporate corruption literally declaring all out war on the environment, that have been the defining characteristic of this administration since day one in office, and Rice is most certainly an integral part of that.

Maybe evil men and women never believe that they could be truly evil people of epic proportions. But that does not make it any less the case, and if the term evil is to mean anything then it must be fully embodied by the likes of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Rice and the whole merry band of bloodthirsty savages totally devoid of human compassion and empathy that is the Bush administration.


peace,
Paul

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STAND BY YOUR MAN, CONDI
Posted by: VZEQICVA on Mar 28, 2008 12:22 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Hang in there, you only have to lie for 8 more months. Time enough for lots more people to get killed. Iraqis because it's their own fault and Americans because they 'volunteer'. Hope this helps you sleep. Where's Rummy just when you need him? How does it feel to be a disgrace? That madam is your legacy. Perhaps you didn't know it would be this hard, but you sure as hell knew how wrong it was. Your actions were dishonorable and are unforgivable. ANNA

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When, when?
Posted by: charemor1 on Mar 28, 2008 1:47 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When will we be rid of this ignorant little buck toothed bimbo?

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Yet...
Posted by: Wacre on Mar 28, 2008 2:21 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I can guarantee you four or five years from now we will somehow end up in the same type of situation again. It always amazes me how Americans (and I am one)–in a political sense–repeat the same actions again and again, yet expect a different result.

Of course our invasion of Iraq–do I need to repeat that they did nothing to us to warrant invasion–is more difficult than she and most in the Bush Administration have expected.

Didn't we already learn a variation of this lesson in Vietnam? How many more individuals have to die for no good reason?

And that's the error. There was a damn good reason for Vietnam, and the 'Domino principal' had relatively little to do with it.

Iraq is similar in that, while Saddam may not have been a good man–in fact he was a tyrant–for awhile he was our tyrant. We had to invade his nation because he had this irritating independent streak: How dare he threaten to take Euros instead of the Dollar! Besides, we could always use a few more military bases, after all there are still a few countries that aren't supporting our little empire of goodness and light.

And then there's the oil...

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If The Democratic Party Had A Backbone
Posted by: left_libertarian on Mar 28, 2008 5:31 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Rice would be sitting in prison along with Bush and Cheney.

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It's so wierd
Posted by: Suz on Mar 28, 2008 7:29 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"...conditioned Iraqis to accept unearned leadership, to embrace sect and tribe over ideas, and to to tolerate unbridled corruption."

I get this eerie sense of deja vu...

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Finding WMD's was NEVER the reason Bush 43 invaded Iraq!
Posted by: HughScott on Mar 28, 2008 9:29 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Danielle Pletka wrote in her NY Times "freedom gene" Op-Ed piece the following:

"After all, for those of us who supported the war, rebutting arguments about weapons of mass destruction has become reflexive. We point to all the United Nations Security Council resolutions, the International Atomic Energy Agency statements, the C.I.A. analyses, the Silberman-Robb report, the Senate Intelligence Committee findings — if we were wrong, we were in good and honest company."


That statement by Pletka, a card-carrying neocon and PNAC founder, is the biggest lie of all. Invading Iraq was all about REGIME CHANGE, not WMDs. For proof, read PNAC's Statement of Principles and other documents published by Bill Kristol's rightwing extremist organization.

If you don't know about PNAC (Project for a New American Century), learn while we still have a relatively free Internet.

Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam vet, ex-USAF pilot and author of George Dub-ya Bush, THE PHONY FIGHTER PILOT, published in 2004. To read a sample chapter and learn about the only smoking-gun proof of White House corruption ever found on the Web,
visit www.PhonyFighterPilot.com.

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» HughScott... Posted by: Quannah
So does anybody know
Posted by: warriornation on Mar 28, 2008 10:29 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
anybody part of the Bush administration that is actually competent? His press secretary is the biggest lying sack of sh__t, Condi is a liar, Bush is a liar and apparently good at dancing bad, Rumsfeld just wants money....Has Bush done anything meaningful in his administration??

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» RE: So does anybody know Posted by: Lauren
Let's make this simple...
Posted by: monkeywrench on Mar 29, 2008 11:53 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Condoleezza ("The Goblin Wears Prada") Rice is an idiot. And a criminal.

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Condi should have stopped after "I didn't think.." , it would be a more accurate
Posted by: thekidde on Mar 29, 2008 1:53 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
assessment of her lack of intelligence and experience. It would seem that the entire BushCo, including the willfully idiotic Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith, didn't have a single intelligent thought before they entered America into the "Worst Nation in the World" competition. Fuck 'em, cook 'em and eat 'em.

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Oh, Condi! Stop The Lies!
Posted by: Quannah on Mar 29, 2008 3:24 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"...It’s a society that’s only now beginning to emerge..."

Iraq had a perfectly functional society before our invasion and occupation. They were consistently the most well-education society in the Middle East. They were the most secular. They were lorded over by a tyrant, but what Gulf State isn't? The point is, they were one of the area's most advanced societies. Iraq was the "Cradle of Civilization" for chrissake!

But then Bush&Co came on the scene and destroyed it.

What's going on in Iraq right now with this new offensive against Al Sadr's followers is more of the same lame attempt at "social engineering through military force" of the Iraqi society. They don't like (or approve) of the society that has been emerging post-Saddam, so they are trying to get rid of the elements that are standing in their way of creating the Iraq that will do their bidding.

This administration has destroyed a sovereign nation. But nothing, absolutely nothing, will stand in the way of Bush&Co getting what they want. The worst thing is, they're too stupid to realize they will NEVER have what they want there, or anywhere else. People have a right to self-determination, and the Iraqi people have had a bellyful of this wanton destruction and illegal and immoral occupation of their country.

We simply can't get rid of this president and his entire government soon enough. And Condi, because of her disturbing hero-worship, lust and worship of Dubya, has laid the trap for her own political demise. As it should be. She certainly does deserve to be in prison with the rest of them.

These people make my skin crawl.

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You would be violent too, Ms Rice
Posted by: Magginkat on Mar 29, 2008 4:39 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You would be violent too, Ms Rice if someone started dropping bombs on you, entered your city, bombed your home, killed your babies and set up an army to keep you fenced in.

Are you really so stupid that you cannot see what is causing the violence. It's you Ms. Rice. YOu and that dimwitted fool that you jokers put in the highest office in this land and then turned pRes. Cheney loose to do his dirty deeds. I wish there was a hell so your gang of thugs could burn forever.

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