http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/08/rice-charlie-rose/Rice: ‘Iraqis Need To Know That We Are Not Looking To Leave Iraq’
In an interview last night on the Charlie Rose Show, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointedly said, “(O)ur friends in the (Middle East) need to know and the Iraqis need to know that we are not looking to leave Iraq.” “Ever?” Rose asked. Rice responded, “We are not going to leave an Iraq that is not capable of defending itself and with a foundation for future reconciliation.”
Rose then asked Rice if she believed she’ll have the support of the American people to continue the war. Rice claimed the American people are looking for “progress.” Rose replied, “But nobody can answer the question: If it doesn’t happen, what?” Avoiding discussion of a Plan B, Rice answered, “Charlie, because as the President said to you, we’re focused on having it happen.”
Watch it at link~
In the interview, Rose also noted that Rice once worked for President George H.W. Bush, who was “famous for insisting there be an exit strategy. (But) no one seems to know what’s the exit strategy (now),” he said. Rice responded that Iraq is “a long-term proposition.”
When Rose asked Rice if the administration was “looking for a strategy for the United States to exit from Iraq.” Rice answered, “No, we’re looking for a strategy that is going to do what we went there to do.”
Last month, Rose similarly asked President Bush, “Can you imagine a circumstance in which you would have to say, we did our best, good men and good women sacrificed their life, but we can’t in the end do what we want to do, and we have to leave?” “No,” Bush replied. “I can’t imagine that, because I believe that with time, this Iraqi government is going to be able to reconcile and move forward.”
Transcript:
ROSE: Let me make this point. You worked with President Bush 41 at the National Security Council for him. He was famous for insisting there be an exit strategy. No one seems to know what’s the exit strategy.
RICE: Well, in this case, because we know that this is a long- term proposition –
ROSE: On the part of participation by American forces on the ground?
RICE: Let me just finish this point, which is that on the long term, Iraq’s evolution to a state that is fully democratic and fully capable of defending itself, that’s a long-term proposition.
(…)
ROSE: I sense — and you can tell me this is absolutely wrong — that the Administration and you as the point person are looking for a strategy for the United States to exit from Iraq.
RICE: No, we’re looking for a strategy that is going to do what we went there to do, which is to help the Iraqis create a more stable environment, lay a foundation for democracy and national reconciliation to evolve in Iraq, and to leave an Iraq or to have an Iraq that is able to defend itself and secure itself.
(…)
RICE: So our friends in the neighborhood need to know and the Iraqis need to know that we are not looking to leave Iraq. That’s not why this President went into Iraq and it’s not how –
ROSE: Ever?
RICE: Charlie, we are not going to leave an Iraq that is not capable of defending itself and with a foundation for future reconciliation.
ROSE: Do you believe you’ll have the support of the American people to do that?
RICE: I think that the American people are looking for progress and so are we.
(…)
ROSE: But nobody can answer the question: If it doesn’t happen, what?
RICE: Charlie, because as the President said to you, we’re focused on having it happen.
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