Condoleezza Rice's Foreign Policy Claptrap

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Sept 2, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

        Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stood before cheering delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa blasting President Barack Obama’s foreign policy.  Her own foreign policy as former President George W. Bush’s National Security advisor, together with former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, urged Bush to start a preemptive war with Iraq.  In the yearlong run-up to the Iraq War, Condoleezza warned the world on Saddam Hussein’s dangerous arsenal of nuclear and biological weapons.  Her foreign policy miscalculations cost the Treasury over $1 trillion and 4,486 U.S. lives, all a colossal blunder.  “When our friends and our foes, alike, do not know the answer to the question,” Rice told the RNC convention.  “The world is a chaotic and dangerous place,” ripping Obama for not rushing into another war in Syria or working with the U.N. in toppling Gaddafi in Libya.

            When the GOP audience clapped, more U.S. soldiers continue to die in a hopeless cause in Afghanistan.  Rice talks of betraying our allies, like Afghan President Hamid Karzai or Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki, while both are dirty politicians, playing both sides against the middle.  Karzai’s Afghanistan is in bed with the Taliban, the supposed enemy-collaborator with Osama bin Laden.  While Obama officially ended the Iraq War Dec.31, 2011, Iraq’s al-Maliki has never been closer collaborating with Iran.  “If America doesn’t lead, our adversaries will, and the world will grow darker, poorer and much more dangerous.”  When Condi and the Bush team went to war in Iraq March 20, 2003, Saddam had ironclad control over his country.  After toppling Saddam April 10, 2003 the country was complete in chaos, with Islamic terrorists flooding across the Iraq border to fight U.S. occupation.

            Condi wants to present her predigested, sanitized version of history but the fact remains that the U.S. is far weaker today than before the war.  With Saddam’s Sunni minority gone, al-Maliki’s Shiite-dominated government has closer ties to Iran than ever before.  Iran, not Iraq, was America’s biggest threat.  Condi’s foreign policy, not Obama, worsened U.S. national security.  Iran’s nuclear enrichment and potential bomb-making capability now threaten Israel, the region and potentially Europe.  Rice blasted Barack for taking a backseat to NATO, rather than praising his multilateral approach.  Since Obama gave his oath Jan. 20, 2009, he ended the Iraq War and has refrained from repeating Condi’s past mistakes.  “We cannot be reluctant to lead,” Condi told the GOP delegates, implying that “leading” involves bombing or going to war.  Rice blasted Obama for creating massive budget deficits.

            Rice conveniently forgets that her boss left the country in economic ruins.  Bush’s budget deficit exceeded $1 trillion after his Oct. 3, 2008 $700 billion bailout bill.  U.S. and foreign banks ran out of cash because of reckless, unregulated “derivative” trading, all in the good name of American capitalism.  While Rice paints a rosy picture to convention delegates, voters recall an economy in shambles, caused, according to Nobel Prize-winning Columbia University economist Joseph I. Stiglitz, by two budget-busting foreign wars and Bush’s refusal to raise taxes.  “Just consider this,” said Condi.  “The United States has ratified only three trade agreements in the last few years and those were negotiated under the Bush administration. . . . “ insisting China completed 15 agreements in the last four years.  Rice forgets that nation’s still reeling from former President Bill Clinton’s Jan 1, 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

            Rambling about her childhood, Rice shared experiences growing up in segregated Birmingham, Ala. under Jim Crow laws.  She forgets the hard fight by Democrats to get the Civil Rights Act signed July 2, 1964 to help her and other minorities achieve the American dream.  “Her parents can’t take her to a movie theater or a restaurant, but they make her believe that even though she can’t have a hamburger at the Woolworth’s lunch counter she can be president of the United States—and she becomes Secretary of State,” Rice told delegates.  How ironic that the man she and the GOP rail about broke all barriers and, in fact, did become president of the United States.  If there were any intellectual honesty in Rice’s presentation, she’d praise Barack for getting Osama bin Laden—the Sept. 11 menace that eluded the Bush administration.  But no, Condi only bashes and blows smoke.

            Rice’s adlibbing to delegates reflects her refusal to look honestly at the damage she wreaked on the U.S. economy and military.  Iraq sent the economy into a tailspin, only recently showing signs of life.  Condi wants to speak romantically about her unilateral foreign policy that left the U.S. with less credibility around the globe.  Obama’s cautious approach is exactly what the doctor ordered during a time of economic upheaval.  While she and the GOP enjoy scapegoating Barack, they know who caused today’s economic mess.  No economy can be built, as former President George H.W. Bush recently said, on rigid rules that don’t permit new taxes where they’re appropriate.  Condi’s adventurous foreign policy can no longer be afforded in today’s economy.  She knows Obama must put the U.S. economic house in order before he commits to more costly adventures overseas.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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