Rice cites Iraq declaring Christmas a national holiday as a sign of success.
Rice cites Iraq declaring Christmas a national holiday as a sign of success.
The Washington Post reports on its recent interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:
In a conversation that stretched to 75 minutes — and which Rice seemed reluctant to end — the secretary of state said she was counting the hours until Jan. 20. But she yielded little ground in defense of her record or the administration’s performance over the past eight years. After being peppered with questions about regrets, she joked, “Aren’t you going to say, ‘Aren’t you thrilled that . . .?’ ” [...]
Arguing that Iraq shows signs of becoming an inclusive state — it even “declared Christmas a national holiday” — Rice said that if the country eventually emerges as a democratic, multiethnic state that has friendly ties with the United States, “that will be more important than what anybody thought in 2002 or 2003.”
For the record, the United States has declared only Christian holidays as national holidays.
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So, if they had declared Hannukah a national holiday, then it would have all been a failure?
January 13th, 2009 at 12:59 pmlame
January 13th, 2009 at 1:02 pmWhen did mooseyak turn Black?
January 13th, 2009 at 1:05 pmBefore leaving dead eyed rice also stated she and heir bush knew the easter bunny laid egg’s….Blessings
January 13th, 2009 at 1:06 pmif the country eventually emerges as a democratic, multiethnic state that has friendly ties with the United States
That is one big if. There is nothing to indicate that Iraq will have “friendly ties” to the United States forever, or that Iraq’s vision of “friendly ties” will align with the United States’ version of the same.
Once again, it is clear the Bush administration’s definition of success depends on imponderables and their policies are totally reliant on wishful thinking.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:07 pmI mean wow. Five years of fighting and one of our big accomplishments is that they get 12/25 off. Way to go! It has been worth it.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:07 pmFor what it’s worth, Christmas was also a national holiday in Nazi Germany.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:09 pmQ: Sir, on this occasion of peace and celebration, can you tell us how you were struck by this bin Laden videotape?
The President: It just reminded me of what a murderer he is and how right and just our cause is.
I couldn’t imagine somebody like Usama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah or the joy of Christmas or celebrating peace and hope.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=63321
January 13th, 2009 at 1:10 pmRice has had Christmas for the last 8 years.
She was never qualified to hold either of her positions under Bush. (Sounds like porn!)
She wasn’t an intelligence expert, nor a diplomat.
What was she then, you may ask? A NEOCON & a YES woman.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:15 pmThe bad news is… all they’ve received for Christmas this last few years is depleted uranium.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:15 pmThat is an exceedingly stupid thing to say, considering that bin Laden is neither Jewish nor Christian.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:17 pmThis is what is referred to as “grabbing at straws”.
Yeah, they declared Xmas as a holiday so that all the Christians would be in one place so as to take all three of them out with one homicide bomber.
Condi is a joke.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:19 pm‘Aren’t you thrilled that . . .?’
she couldn’t even finish her own question…
January 13th, 2009 at 1:20 pmand then came up with ‘christmas’???
which i’m sure the muslims will celebrate from now on…
Iraqi Christians now celebrate Christmas in Syria and Jordan.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:21 pmWho needs peace and safety, water and electricity when you’ve got Christmas.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:21 pmLet us put a little perspective on this. Islam recognizes Jesus as a prophet. (Christianity and Muhammad? I would love to see the reaction if Ramadan were declared a US holiday.) A country suffering under 5 years of war and occupation and the government declares a holiday for them. Condi, I hope you aren’t expecting lots of presents next December from Iraq.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:22 pmNot exactly on topic but Hillary Clinton at her confirmation hearing is making Condi seem like a retard.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:22 pmOf course they killed or drove out all the indigenous Christians. I’m sure it was to affirm their love for the American crusaders, er occupiers, er liberators.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:24 pmWhat religious holidays they decide to nationalize is a better sign of success than less of our troops are being killed and more of our troops are being killed. However, better indicators would probably be things like infrastructure, economy, and peace.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:25 pmshe’s reaching.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:26 pmToo bad most of the Iraqi Christians, who enjoyed the freedom to practice their religion under Saddam Hussein, have had to flee the country.
Heck of a job, Bushies.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:26 pmAh yes, nothing says progress then celebrating a commercialized pagan holiday which represents consumerism, spending into debt, trampling over one another at stores and the false date of Christs birth.
Of course the real sign of progress will be when the Iraqi government signs away all of their oil rights over to US oil companies and they recognize American baseball as their national past time.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:28 pmCluster bombs in the Stocking for little Johnny?
Hey, everyone loves Christmas.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:29 pmRICE IS A WAR CRIMINAL!
WAR CRIMINAL!!!!!
WAR CRIMINAL!!!!!
WAR CRIMINAL!!!!!
WAR CRIMINAL!!!!!
WAR CRIMINAL!!!!!
January 13th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
http://www.macmillanacademic.com/Academic/book/BookDisplay.asp?BookKey=4754171
Ah, those quaint religious customs started by occupying armies to reinforce the subjugation of the occupied. Who wouldn’t want to display a conquering army’s residual praxis?
January 13th, 2009 at 1:30 pmSo the actual reason for the Iraq war was to convert them?
January 13th, 2009 at 1:30 pmChristmas. Now how about Holyween.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:36 pmno, ElBruce, just to open another Xmas market.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:37 pmRice said that if the country eventually emerges as a democratic, multiethnic state that has friendly ties with the United States, “that will be more important than what anybody thought in 2002 or 2003.”
So, again we hear that the ends justifies the means. Didn’t these Bush people ever learn morality? They claim to be Christian and moral and having “family values.” They are truly none of those things.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:38 pmAs effective a threat as has ever been issued:
If you other nations don’t get in line and submit to our superiority, the USA will not only bring you ‘democracy,’ but Christmas too!
January 13th, 2009 at 1:45 pmCondi is the only person on earth capable of standing in front of you with a huge pile of steaming dog cheney on her forehad who could give you a convincing argument that there was no dog cheney on her forehead. Here’s another example.
January 13th, 2009 at 1:46 pmWhy do you hate Christmas/Freedom?
January 13th, 2009 at 1:46 pmSing along with me, Iraq!
Oh, holy sh*t
January 13th, 2009 at 1:47 pmThe bombs are brightly shining
It is the night
Of our last day on earth
Long lay neocons
In greed, for oil they’re pining
‘Til PNAC appeared
And a plan did unfold
A thrill of pow’r
And the whole world controlling
For yonder breaks
Chaos for the using
Fall on your knees
Oh fear America’s choices
Oh sh*t, divine
Oh sh*t, oh sh*t, divine
Or..
Silent Night,
January 13th, 2009 at 1:57 pmEveryone’s dead….
USA,
Cash Green, Blood Red…..
She looks like a pitbull-boxer-mix mutt on her way out! All the innocent civilians killed in a criminal invasion for what? All she can say is ‘they declared Xmas a national holiday’?
Here in the West the whole concept of Christmas has been commercialized to such an extent it has been reduced to a shopping run to Wal-Mart to spend hard-earned money on gifts that we do not need!
January 13th, 2009 at 1:58 pmThat was awesome, PLC.
“that will be more important than what anybody thought in 2002 or 2003.”
These kinds of quotes are really getting to me. If the argument that you have now for justifying the invasion of Iraq back then is so damn good, then let’s use a little mental time machine to check. Imagine Bush trying to make the case for war in 2002 using your current arguments instead of all the Saddam=Al-Qaeda/WMD crap that you think is so unimportant. Just picture him trying to convince the electorate, Congress, and/or any of our allies with “hey, they could start celebrating Christmas, and they’d have elections, and um, yeah.” How would that have gone over?
January 13th, 2009 at 2:00 pmThe Crusades are so 13th century.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:03 pmHey, it would work for Bill O’Reilly.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:05 pmWhen they celebrate Valentines Day we can declare victory and the troops can go home!
January 13th, 2009 at 2:05 pm“Iraq: the country without a war on Christmas”
Let’s sing the “12 Days of Conflict”
12 Guards a shooting
January 13th, 2009 at 2:09 pm11 children starving
10 oil leases gushing
9 politicans bribing
8 widows begging
7 prisoners tortured
6 capitalistic years
5 ethnically cleansed blocks
4 poisoned birds
3 Christians left
2 U.S. invasions
and 1 hour of power a day
ElBruce Says:
That was awesome, PLC.
Thank you. I firmly believe that one parody deserves another.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:12 pmOh, man. I’m truly embarrassed by that woman.
Condi, for the luvva Jebus — please go back to shoe shopping – at least you can tell a Ferragamo from a Blahnik…
January 13th, 2009 at 2:17 pmDid you hear what Bush was trying to do in Iraq with the whole “free market utopia” spiel? It was essentially this.
THE IRAQIS HAVE COCA COLA AND SANTA CLAUS, THE TERRORISTS LOSE
January 13th, 2009 at 2:24 pmChristmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please put three hundred and fifty billion in the old bush’s hat.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:26 pmSo, murdering a million innocent people is OK, if it means you can force your religious holiday upon the survivors…
January 13th, 2009 at 2:39 pmMust have as much meaning as seeing “Boxing Day, Canada” on my calender every year.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pmToo bad there wasn’t enough electricity for the Christmtyth lights.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:55 pmThe US has not declared Christian holidays national holidays, but only one Christian holiday, Christmas.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:33 pmSo, in a country that was illegally invaded, that had mostly Muslims worshiping the Islamic faith, it’s now considered a “victory” because a Christian holiday is now celebrated?
January 13th, 2009 at 3:37 pmWTF am I missing?
shoeless Says:
For what it’s worth, Christmas was also a national holiday in Nazi Germany.
There ya go~
Is that all they got? WTF! A normal person would be embarrassed to even think of that “victory.”
STFU you louse.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:38 pmST FU condi
January 13th, 2009 at 3:38 pmAre Iraqis singing Christmas Carols?
Will there be an Iraqi rendition of The Christmas Carol?
This is right up there with an Iraqi Disneyland.
repugs GTFO NOW.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:41 pmI heard they cleaned the streets last week too. I guess THAT is a sign of their great success. This administration simply has no shame.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pmwhat a package, they have chimpy’s democracy and Christmas where Iraqi survivors can hang shoes as tinsel on their Christmas trees.
This whole mf administration thinks our lives are a jolly good laugh. Everything is a f-n joke to this f-ed up rotten administration.
The whole bunch of rotten liars should prepare for their trials instead of making a fool of themselves going around sprinkling fairy dust.
Try to ignore the world’s subpoenas you idiotic repugs.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:54 pmNow that is hilarious.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:13 pmIt won’t be victory until they decide to declare an imaginary War on Christmas.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:08 pmBut where the hell in Iraq do you buy a Christmas tree?
No doubt that Bill O. will tout this as a victory for his side in the “War On Christmas.” Unfortunately, by this time next year it won’t be safe for the two Christians left in Iraq to celebrate Christmas the Green Zone.
-AF
January 13th, 2009 at 8:58 pmAndrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
If she gets away from her WAR CRIMES, I hope she ger cancer and slowly suffers with it!
January 13th, 2009 at 9:06 pmStrictly speaking, the United States has no national holidays since each state designates holidays through the legislative process or by executive order. The United States Congress can legally designate holidays for federal employees and for the District of Columbia.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:07 pmAnother few years of fighting terrorist aggression in Iraq and we’ll be able to claim victory for an Iraqi St. Patrick’s Day.
-GSD
January 13th, 2009 at 11:41 pmMaybe the ones where we get days off but not all holidays are “Christian.” We have a national holiday which honors Sun Myung Moon. Parent’s Day.
Moon’s operatives lie and say its purpose is not for honoring Moon but they pushed it through and Moon brags about how congress didn’t know what they were doing when they did his bidding and enacted the law. It was piled into a big bill and signed into law likely with most lawmakers having no clue. But some should have, like Orrin Hatch and Trent Lott. In fact, Moon keeps score as to how well he is doing subduing the world by how many nations he can get to pass the holiday.
Though his organization gives lip service to Jesus Christ, they teach that Jesus was a failure and now serves Moon’s dead son in heaven. They teach Jesus could not even enter heaven until Moon married Him to living Korean woman. Not exactly what I would call “Christian.” I would say that to call Moon’s organization “Christian” is to mock Christ.
Today there’s much more info that documents this was all a set up by Moon’s operatives like Robert Grant who Moon calls one of his “three musketeers.”
What is the truth behind Parents Day?
Church articles show significant ties to holiday
Moon in 1997:
Moon in 2000:
When Trent Lott went on the floor of the Senate and said we should all support True Parents Day, he actually used the Moon lingo.
Here’s a video of Orrin Hatch introducing Mrs. Messiah Moon at the Dirksen Building in 1993, when they started the process of pulling it off.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:26 amThe national messiahsBedava mp3 indir who have been sent out to 185 nations are working hard tocet have True Parents Day resolutions passed in their mission nations which eventually will be sohbet
February 28th, 2009 at 11:13 amculminated in the United Nations and then world unification will come