Rice: As A ‘Political Scientist,’ ‘I Absolutely Am So Proud’ Of Invading Iraq
Rice: As A ‘Political Scientist,’ ‘I Absolutely Am So Proud’ Of Invading Iraq
This morning, CNN aired an exit interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. During the interview, reporter Zain Verjee asked Rice if she “regretted her role in the Iraq war.” Rice responded by saying that she had no regrets about the war and is “absolutely so proud” of invading Iraq:
QUESTION: Do you regret your role in the Iraq war?
SECRETARY RICE: I absolutely am so proud that we liberated Iraq.
QUESTION: Really?
SECRETARY RICE: Absolutely. And I’m especially, as a political scientist, not as Secretary of State, not as National Security Advisor, but as somebody who knows that structurally it matters that a geostrategically important country like Iraq is not Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
Watch it:
Rice’s pride is misplaced. Indeed, leaving aside the fact that the war was predicated on false intelligence, Rice cannot credibly argue as a “political scientist” that invading Iraq was in the interest of the U.S. “geostrategically.”
Indeed, Iraq posed no military threat to the United States in 2003. As Rice herself explained in July of 2001, Saddam Hussein had been unable to reconstitute himself militarily following the 1991 Gulf War. More importantly, the invasion of Iraq destabilized the region and empowered Iran politically and militarily. And contrary to neo-conservative predictions, Iran accelerated its nuclear weapons program in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Contrary to Rice’s assessment of the strategic value of the war in Iraq, a group of the some of the nation’s most celebrated political scientists argued in a paid advertisement in the New York Times on the eve of the Iraq war that the invasion was not in America’s strategic interests and predicted several of the negative effects of the war:
View the full ad here.
Despite her pride, Rice was — and remains — wrong about invading Iraq.
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damn, she is one loathsome b!tch.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:14 pmCondi-WAR CRIMINAL!
December 18th, 2008 at 12:15 pmThen you shouldn’t have any problems Going and Living There, huh, Condi?
Geeeee… just think of all the SHOEEEES you could shop for over there, Condi.
And you wouldn’t even hafta go lookin’ for ‘em. They’d come lookin’ fer you!
December 18th, 2008 at 12:15 pmShe blinded me with Science!
December 18th, 2008 at 12:17 pmHer brain is wired wrong. It has to be.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:17 pmAs a Democrat I am proud that you are gone come Janurary,as an American I am pushing for yours and Bushies War crimes tribunal!
December 18th, 2008 at 12:18 pmI liked the “Really?” You could almost hear the questioner’s jaw drop.
Hey, is a “political scientist” anything like a “Christian scientist?” From her example, it would seem so.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pmthe buck toothed one got her PHD in a corn flakes box. This is a a person who accomplished absolutely nothing in her tenure as Secreatary of State. And if anything her incompetence has reversed any semblance of progress in the Middle East.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pmPolitical scientist? That’s funny. Since when is politics a science?
Anyway, it’s my mistake. I thought she was a political hack.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pmGawd, what an appalling, reeking, feculent slag is ol’ Chickenlegs (”Condaleeza” is “Chicken-legs” in Esperanto).
December 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pmWhen you are part of a neo-con plan to destroy a country for the personal gain of supporters and to live out the neo-con dream of making “might is right” a basic USA policy, which has failed, then the only defense is, “It was the right thing to do.” I’m sure the surviving people of Irag might have a slightly different point of view.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:25 pmWhen you spend all your time walking up to your thighs in feces you need to change your shoes often .
December 18th, 2008 at 12:25 pmAs a human being with a conscience and feelings, I’m mortified.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:26 pmAnd I bet pride was felt by other great leaders such as Hitler, Mussolini, Napoleon, Ghenghis Khan, etc. when they “liberated” countries as well.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pmDrop dead, you stupid slag.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pmTranslation:
I’m glad chimpy and our gang invaded, occupied and killed Iraqi’s Head of State because it called us a name.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:28 pm….and I’m sure Hitler was proud of invading France.
¶ AIO
December 18th, 2008 at 12:28 pmThe point is not whether Rice is correct or not when she states that Iraq is important to us geostratecially – the point is that Rice seems just fine and dandy with our ‘taking’ a country that we feel to be important to us for one reason or another.
If you give Rice benefit of the doubt, and assume for a moment that Iraq is important to us geostrategically, does that really justify the actions of the last 5 years?
I think not.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:30 pm[ "As a political scientist"] “I absolutely am so proud that we liberated Iraq.”
…because blowing things-up makes political science fun!
December 18th, 2008 at 12:31 pmThe part of the brain that governs self-criticism must be missing or inactive in conservatives. I know it sounds funny, but it explains so much.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:31 pmWonder if the political science faculty at Stanford agree?
December 18th, 2008 at 12:32 pmElizabeth Bathory
December 18th, 2008 at 12:32 pmalphainfinityomega Says: ….and I’m sure Hitler was proud of invading France.
In fact Hitler danced a little jig when Paris surrendered.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:32 pmAs a political scientist, I am ashamed to be in the same discipline as Dr. Rice … but not surprised.
Yes, politics can be scientifically studied – but much of what passes for theory (especially in International Relations) is merely post-hoc rationalization for parochial interests. Dr. Rice represents the worst indulgences of those approaches.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:33 pmNothing is more important to condi than a victory. Any victory, whatever the price and consequences. Her talking point is out there, that’s all that matters. Even if she knows she’s lying, she got her victory. The lady is a complete sociopath, not just a political scientist of a sociopath…
December 18th, 2008 at 12:33 pmMaybe it’s just wishful thinking, but to me, this just screams desperation. Desperate to somehow make it either okay, or make it all go away.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:34 pmI can’t think of anything else that would promote the word ‘proud’ related to anything that they’ve done. Unless of course she happened to be speaking to the oil execs.
The news this week reminds me of an old song lyric:
December 18th, 2008 at 12:35 pm“A lot of shoes, a lot of rice…”
It’s going to be a looooooong 32 days…
December 18th, 2008 at 12:37 pmBuford Says: If you give Rice benefit of the doubt, and assume for a moment that Iraq is important to us geostrategically, does that really justify the actions of the last 5 years?
Indeed. And if it was “so important to us” why were troop levels so clearly inadequate, and why were their no clear plans for the occupation? AND, why is Iraq apparently more important to the US than the Iraqi’s themselves?
December 18th, 2008 at 12:38 pmWow. Eight long years and she’s learned zip.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:39 pmSo glad this woman will be unemployed SOON.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:43 pmPolitical scientist, eh?
December 18th, 2008 at 12:48 pmShe is a disgrace to every scientist in every field of science.
I believe she’s never got closure on her true identity.
Much like Clarence Thomas, she’s still trying to garnish ‘whitey’s’ favor through actions that erode social soundness & moral truths.
Condi was a good girl. She studied hard, her Dad pulled strings at Stanford to establish the scholarship, & she managed to get her Doctorate.
But…at what cost?
Bush needed a token minority figure so he approved her NSA position. Just like Brownie, she wasn’t qualified to lead, so she kind of hung around watching & agreeing with the NeoCons.
After the Bushies had used up all of what Powell had to offer they decide to promote Condi. Convenience & assured compliance were the qualifiers, not competence or experience.
Ms Rice, you remind me of your boss; unqualified, terrible public speaker, liar, airhead and, I might add, not very attractive.
Good riddance, Condi. PROUD of an illegal invasion, indeed…
December 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pmThe comments made this week alone by Bush,Cheney and Rice are proof they have all deluded themselves.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:51 pmshe’s like a little puppy, just shitting all over the carpet and prepared to do whatever it takes to please her master
December 18th, 2008 at 12:54 pmThe remarkable thing is that she’s been so inconsequential and has been so explosively vapid over eight long years, her name rarely comes up in War Crimes Trial discussion. Her legacy is that of the ultimate yes man. Her singular accomplishment is outlasting Rumsfeld and surviving Xhainee.
How pathetic is that?
December 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pmShe claims credit for invading Iraq. She should have done the invading as a member of the USMC platoon Chickenhawk, with fellow soldiers Chimpy, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Limbaugh, Coulter and other GOP draft dodgers. The members of this sorry platoon would all be dead by now, if they had to do the actual fighting. If any of them saw actual combat, they would shit themselves.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:08 pmIn the run-up to the war, President Bush named Iran and Iraq both as parts of the infamous “axis of evil”. And yet, for the outcome of OIF, our “victory” has been to make Iraq look like Iran part II. Whereas Iraq was a secular country ruled by a ruthless dictator, it is now an Islamist Shia state that follows Muslim law and is ruled by the leader of a terrorist organization with a history of violence towards the US. Whereas before it had no money, no power, no influence, Iraq is now an area with a tremendous source of income, and a large military. Hezbollah already has a political party with a foothold in the Iraqi government, and has a history of working with Maliki’s ruling Dawa party in the past (Beirut). Obviously, the Shia majority in Iraq take a dim view of Israel and support Lebanon’s fight in that region. But even the IIP (the only Sunni party in Iraq’s government) has refused all diplomatic relations with Israel. As Iraq’s infrastructure grows, most of the contracts (oil, cement, electricity, etc.) are going to Iranian firms. In short, we have opened Pandora’s box.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:10 pmI’m sure that the surviving relatives of killed children have much respect for Rice’s Political Science. Don’t these people dream at night or look in the mirror?
December 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pmMy degree is in Poly Sci, and she’s no Political Scientist.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:14 pmShe’s more like a token gap toothed NeoClown.
Anonymouse Says:
“…politics can be scientifically studied…”
I have to respectfully disagree with your statement. Studying something doesn’t make your study a science. I am a writer and historian and I can assure you that what I am doing is not science. It may sound fancy to say so but that doesn’t make it true.
Study per se is not a science. It lacks step 4 of the Scientific Method: “Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment.”
There are no experiments to conduct in studying history. You’re collecting opinions, that’s all. You can’t prove anything, hard as you try. History is what men want it to be, not what it actually is or was. 90% of it is public relations.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:17 pmIf you want to be a scientist go to MIT or Cal Tech.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:26 pmAs a political scientist, I can state, unequivocally, that Dr. Rice is delusional. Even from the most dispassionate, scientific, view the invasion of Iraq has been a disaster. The invasion removed the key stabilizing / counter-balancing influence in the region to Iran. Additionally, the invasion has exacerbated instability at the Iraq / Turkish boarder. From a geo-strategic point of view, the invasion has created more chaos and instability – which is antithetical to the general understanding and goal of Political Science: which is to study, understand, and theorize on political order and stability.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:27 pmWAR CRIMINAL! HAGUE 2009!
December 18th, 2008 at 1:32 pm@ republicanSScareme
Please. Science is no more defined by the experimental method than math is defined by matrix algebra. The central elements of science (despite what physicists and physicist wanna-bes will tell you) are explicitness, radical transparency, open dialogue between anonymous peers.
Experimental design is an excellent tool when feasible, but the reality is that science has multiple elements. Experimentation on its own is not science, it’s just curiosity.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pmShe was never a very good political scientist. She didn’t get cited, her work didn’t create any debates in the literature, she’s not someone on graduate school syllabi. She was a “Sovietologist,” which was a kind of Area Studies/Political Psychology construction — people who could read the tea leaves and tell you what it meant that Malenkov was third from the right on Lenin’s Tomb during a May Day parade and whatnot.
So as a political scientist, I’m proud that no political scientists ever paid her any heed.
Of course, she wasn’t a political scientist long, either. She “did” what, er, WHO she had to “do” among the regency of Stanford to go into administration.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pmAnd please let’s not start a philosophy of science debate over political science — we get enough of that in the APSR. Suffice it to say that the field is called “Political Science” and the degree is awarded in “Political Science” and the practitioners are called “political scientists.” Leave the navel-gazing debate over the -ologies to the Rumor Mills on Blogger….
December 18th, 2008 at 1:48 pmSo, like, what are, like, the ethics of setting up this little experient ?
December 18th, 2008 at 1:54 pmONE LAST TIME – RICE IS AN IDIOT !!!
December 18th, 2008 at 1:55 pmShe feels so proud as a political scienttist.
How about as a Bush loyalist first country second type of person?
How proud of New Orleans reconstruction is she?
How about that Iraqi reconstruction?
Is she proud of Blackwater merc’s murdering iraqi’s for being in their path?
How about that torture issue? Makes a patriot just choke up and vomit, doesn’t it?
Oh, and the bankrupting the country under the republican/conservative “Free Market” guise of “every American for himself”. Now there is a motto for republicans.
Except, it is the elite that get to be organized in fleecing Americans. Helping those helpless vulnerable billionaires from becoming millionaires because the took that investment risk that pays off high yeilds for said risks. But as we see, Rice and the republican ilk only feel others should feel consecuences of risk and not those wealthy enough to endure.
And I was going to say, “don’t get me started”.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:00 pmSECRETARY RICE: Iraq is not Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Iraq belongs to George W. Bush.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:04 pmI’m sure there is a special place in hell for her, Bush,Chaney,Rumsfeld,and the rest for the demons when their number is up! They are responsible for the deaths and agony of millions of people and the collapse of the economy.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:10 pmThey have spit on the constitution and robbed our very soul.
Go back to school Condi… you need some lessons in the humanities.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:11 pmSECRETARY RICE: I absolutely am so proud that we liberated Iraq.
What we are now seeing is that these Bushies and their 23% mindless minions cannot seem to tell the difference between “liberation” and “occupation”. They need to watch some of those old film clips of the liberation of France by the allies in WWII.
After a “liberation”, there are parades and girls kissing the liberating soldiers on the streets and stuff like that.
“Occupations” generally look much different, and it is not difficult to differentiate between the two.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:13 pmWhy are these war criminals like Condi free to roam?
Where the Justice!
911=Inside Job
December 18th, 2008 at 2:30 pm“Liberated” – yet another word totally & delusionally redefined by Condi, Bush, Chenet, etc.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:52 pmLet’s hope she remembers these comments at her trial for War Crimes that the United Nations will bring against the Bush Administration. She might have to pull a Gonzo and say ” I can’t recall” at lease 72 times.
December 18th, 2008 at 3:08 pmJustice will only be a hollow shell of a concept until she has been forced to attempt to make this case in front of the war crimes tribunal.
December 18th, 2008 at 3:51 pmAs a human being I am ashamed to be the same species as Condalizzard Rice.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:31 pmAs an American I am proud that in 32 days YOU will be a HAS-BEING.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:56 pmYou will have lots of night-mares, from all the horror that was caused by BU$H CO. and you were a large part of it.
has anyone read american armageddon by craig unger? the neo-cons have a track record of this b.s. rhetoric where they have a feeling and they are correct and any intelligence which shows otherwise is not true. so the keep pushing. and now they keep revising history. this is propaganda, meme seeding. watch matthews with that gaffney guy. these neocons are all deluded by their own shadows and reflections. they live in a parallel universe where some day we will all bow to them and praise them.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:31 pmWait a minute: Didn’t the 2007 NIE say that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapon program after the invasion?
December 18th, 2008 at 8:32 pmEugeneDebs Says:
As a human being I am ashamed to be the same species as Condalizzard Rice.
Don’t worry, you’re in the clear, like most of the rest of us.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:37 pmThis “thing” (woman?) is out of touch with the reality that she is responsible for the touture and murder of over a million of God’s children. Let her profess her innocence on Judgement Day. If God accepts her, I will not live in the same Heaven!
December 19th, 2008 at 1:14 pm