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Democrats Raises Objections During Debate
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP
WASHINGTON (Jan. 26) - Despite strong Democratic dissent, Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's trusted national security aide and a main architect of his policies on Iraq and the war on terror, appears headed to overwhelming Senate approval as the next secretary of state.
Once approved, Rice, 50, will replace Colin Powell and to become the first black woman to serve as the nation's top diplomat.
A dozen or so Democrats were lined up to vote against her Wednesday. Probably as many others intended to yield to President Bush's right to pick his own Cabinet even though they, too, harbored serious doubts about Iraq policy.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., predicted Rice would have "an overwhelming majority" of votes.
What had seemed at the outset to be a cinch turned into sometimes angry debate over Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq, his struggle with a potent insurgency and Rice's role in helping him make a case for overthrowing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
One senator, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, called the war unconstitutional and unwise. Another, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, suggested that Rice merely reinforces Bush's decisions after he has made them. And a third, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, charged that Rice, as Bush's national security adviser, provided Congress with "false reasons" for going to war.
Had she not, Kennedy said in a speech, "It might have changed the course of history."
By contrast, Sens. John Warner and George Allen of Virginia, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, among other Republicans, praised Rice during Tuesday's lengthy debate as a distinguished academic and public servant who tells the truth.
"She's always been candid and honest, and she listened," Hagel said.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, turned the debate against the Democrats, whose senatorial campaign committee sent a fund-raising e-mail signed by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. She quoted from her sharp questioning of Rice in last week's confirmation hearings. Cornyn characterized the e-mail as part of a disinformation campaign that "crossed the line" of politics.
An academic who specialized in the study of the now-defunct Soviet Union, she has been one of Bush's closest advisers as his national security adviser for four years. In testimony last week to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she swore she has not been shy about disagreeing with him privately at times.
Now, she will be at his side trying to improve relations with European allies, pursuing a Middle East settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, seeking a way to stop North Korea and Iran from developing nuclear weapons - and, above all, trying to pacify Iraq with limited additional U.S. casualties.
The two days of hearings last week and Tuesday's Senate debate gave Americans and the rest of the world unusual access to U.S. foreign policy and to Bush's critics.
Byrd, the Senate's senior member, said Bush, with Rice's help, steered the country into an unprovoked and unjustified war based on false information that Iraq had been a training ground for terrorists.
"Dr. Rice is responsible for some of the most overblown rhetoric that the administration used to scare the American people into believing that there was an imminent threat from Iraq," Byrd said.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., charged that she concealed the CIA's skepticism about allegations that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium for a nuclear weapons program from Africa.
Rice claimed there had been consensus within the administration on Iraq's activity when the Energy Department and the State Department had clear reservations, Levin said. "She exaggerated and distorted the facts," he said.
And Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said, "We have a moral obligation to provide better leadership."
"Those in charge must be held accountable for mistakes," Bayh said, even while acknowledging the administration was trying to do the right thing in Iraq.
But Democrats were not unanimous.
Sens. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Ken Salazar of Colorado spoke in Rice's favor. And Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California stressed that Rice has Bush's confidence and trust and will help the United States "enhance lost credibility among many nations."
"A president deserves to have his selections confirmed," Feinstein said.
Before becoming Bush's national security adviser in January 2001, Rice spent six years as provost at Stanford, the institution's chief budget and academic officer.
Rice was born in Birmingham, Ala. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Denver, a master's from Notre Dame and a doctorate from the Denver's Graduate School of International Studies.
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP
WASHINGTON (Jan. 26) - Despite strong Democratic dissent, Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's trusted national security aide and a main architect of his policies on Iraq and the war on terror, appears headed to overwhelming Senate approval as the next secretary of state.
Once approved, Rice, 50, will replace Colin Powell and to become the first black woman to serve as the nation's top diplomat.
A dozen or so Democrats were lined up to vote against her Wednesday. Probably as many others intended to yield to President Bush's right to pick his own Cabinet even though they, too, harbored serious doubts about Iraq policy.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., predicted Rice would have "an overwhelming majority" of votes.
What had seemed at the outset to be a cinch turned into sometimes angry debate over Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq, his struggle with a potent insurgency and Rice's role in helping him make a case for overthrowing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
One senator, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, called the war unconstitutional and unwise. Another, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, suggested that Rice merely reinforces Bush's decisions after he has made them. And a third, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, charged that Rice, as Bush's national security adviser, provided Congress with "false reasons" for going to war.
Had she not, Kennedy said in a speech, "It might have changed the course of history."
By contrast, Sens. John Warner and George Allen of Virginia, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, among other Republicans, praised Rice during Tuesday's lengthy debate as a distinguished academic and public servant who tells the truth.
"She's always been candid and honest, and she listened," Hagel said.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, turned the debate against the Democrats, whose senatorial campaign committee sent a fund-raising e-mail signed by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. She quoted from her sharp questioning of Rice in last week's confirmation hearings. Cornyn characterized the e-mail as part of a disinformation campaign that "crossed the line" of politics.
An academic who specialized in the study of the now-defunct Soviet Union, she has been one of Bush's closest advisers as his national security adviser for four years. In testimony last week to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, she swore she has not been shy about disagreeing with him privately at times.
Now, she will be at his side trying to improve relations with European allies, pursuing a Middle East settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, seeking a way to stop North Korea and Iran from developing nuclear weapons - and, above all, trying to pacify Iraq with limited additional U.S. casualties.
The two days of hearings last week and Tuesday's Senate debate gave Americans and the rest of the world unusual access to U.S. foreign policy and to Bush's critics.
Byrd, the Senate's senior member, said Bush, with Rice's help, steered the country into an unprovoked and unjustified war based on false information that Iraq had been a training ground for terrorists.
"Dr. Rice is responsible for some of the most overblown rhetoric that the administration used to scare the American people into believing that there was an imminent threat from Iraq," Byrd said.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., charged that she concealed the CIA's skepticism about allegations that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium for a nuclear weapons program from Africa.
Rice claimed there had been consensus within the administration on Iraq's activity when the Energy Department and the State Department had clear reservations, Levin said. "She exaggerated and distorted the facts," he said.
And Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said, "We have a moral obligation to provide better leadership."
"Those in charge must be held accountable for mistakes," Bayh said, even while acknowledging the administration was trying to do the right thing in Iraq.
But Democrats were not unanimous.
Sens. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Ken Salazar of Colorado spoke in Rice's favor. And Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California stressed that Rice has Bush's confidence and trust and will help the United States "enhance lost credibility among many nations."
"A president deserves to have his selections confirmed," Feinstein said.
Before becoming Bush's national security adviser in January 2001, Rice spent six years as provost at Stanford, the institution's chief budget and academic officer.
Rice was born in Birmingham, Ala. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Denver, a master's from Notre Dame and a doctorate from the Denver's Graduate School of International Studies.
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