Topic: Condoleezza Rice sworn in as Secretary of State.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as … 2005_pg7_9
WASHINGTON: Condoleezza Rice, despite some spirited, at times bitter, opposition from a number of Democratic senators, was confirmed as Secretary of State on Wednesday by a Senate vote of 85 to 13.Dr Rice becomes the second woman and the first African-American female to become Secretary of State.
The first woman to hold that post was Mrs Madeleine Albright in the Clinton administration. Mrs Albright was the daughter of Joseph Korbel, a member of the UN Commission for India and Pakistan set up to find a solution to the Kashmir problem, a task foiled in the end by India’s lack of cooperation.
In a nine-hour debate in the Senate on Tuesday, a number of Democratic senators castigated Dr Rice for her failure to be truthful during questioning by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and for being an architect of the failed American policy on Iraq. Sen Mark Dayton was particularly savage in his criticism and accused President Bush’s top aides of “lying to Congress, lying to our committees and lying to the American people.”
He said the administration must be stopped from promoting officials “who have been instrumental in deceiving Congress and the American people,” adding “and that includes Dr Rice.” Sen Evan Bayh said the nominee “has been a principal architect of policy errors that have tragically undermined our prospects for success” in Iraq. He added, “This is no ordinary incompetence. Men and women are dying as a result of these mistakes.”
Sen Edward M Kennedy said, “We now know that Saddam had no nuclear weapons programme of any kind.” The war, he pointed out, has made Iraq a “breeding ground for terrorism that previously did not exist.
The Whore of Babylon?
