Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUponThe International Community
There are also misconceptions we can fight against. When I talk to religious people from the Middle East, they seem to believe that Americans are secular and don't believe in family. And I say, "Come to America." There's a church or a synagogue or a mosque on practically every corner. We are a people who are family oriented and deeply religious.America has made its way by being a place where people from many different cultures and many different religious back grounds have joined together. We don't tolerate each other; we make each other better. I wish people could see that America.
RD: Does our goal to d ay of stability and prosperity in Iraq still encompass building a democratic Iraq as well?
Secretary Rice: Oh, it absolutely has to encompass a democratic Iraq. One can't exist without the other.
I think we've learned over the years t h at what you get from authoritarianism or dictatorships is a false stability. Either you get out-and-out repression or you get a society in which there are malignancies that eventually spring forth in unhealthy ways, like the development of extremism, because people don't have legitimate political institutions through which to express their differences.
I look at the lives of innocent Iraqis that have been lost, schoolchildren and teachers and brothers and sisters of Iraqi leaders who are assassinated. And I stand in awe of the fact that twelve and a half million of them went to the polls any way, despite those threats and that intimidation.
When Iraq achieves its democracy, it's going to have a huge impact on the rest of the region, because people are going to look around and say, "Why not us?"
Already, in Kuwait, women voted for the first time and ran for office for the first time. In Egypt, they have had multi-party elections for the first time. I know their parliamentary elections did not meet the standards that we h ad hoped, but when you've had elections in which criticism of the sitting government, even the president, was thoroughly and completely permitted, it's never going to be the same.
RD: When you were National Security Advisor, you said no one should be willing to tolerate nuclear weapons in Iran. And the President has said we won't tolerate it. Will this statement come back to haunt us?
Secretary Rice: We don't have to tolerate it. No, of course not. First of all, we are working very hard, and I would say effectively, to have an international coalition that also won't tolerate a nuclear weapon in Iran. And if it's determined to have a nuclear weapon, then it will be isolated from the international community.
We also can make it very clear to Iran that it's never going to benefit from having a nuclear weapon. We're going to defend our allies and our interests around the world.
Advertisement 
Your Comments
See all
...
Post your commentCancel