NYT: With Rumsfeld gone, Iraq war critics focus on Rice

RAW STORYPublished: Saturday February 3, 2007

Now that Donald Rumsfeld is no longer Defense Secretary, Iraq war critics have set their sights on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, The New York Times will report in Sunday's paper.

"For six years, first as national security adviser and then as secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice worked under the cover of an effective shield: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who was the administration's lightning rod for criticism over its handling of Iraq," Helene Cooper writes for the Times. "But in recent weeks, with Rumsfeld gone, Rice has faced increased, and somewhat unfamiliar, criticism."

The Times reports that Rice "confronted a wall of opposition from Republicans as well as Democrats during a Jan. 11 Senate hearing and "several of her predecessors were pointed in their disapproval of her job performance."

Excerpts from article:

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker took issue with Rice's refusal to engage Syria diplomatically. Back in his day, he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "We practiced diplomacy full time, and it paid off."

Last week, Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John McCain, R-Ariz., released three letters demanding that Rice make public the administration's requirements for actions to be taken by Baghdad to earn continued U.S. support. Along with the letters, and Rice's reply -- which indicated that Baghdad had already missed most of the benchmarks -- the senators also released an irate statement.

"Secretary Rice finally provided a response" to the senators' repeated requests, the statement said. "What Secretary Rice's letter makes abundantly clear is that the administration does not intend to attach meaningful consequences for the Iraqis continuing to fail to meet their commitments."

Despite her role at the heart of the Iraq war from its beginnings, Rice had, thus far, avoided the public pillorying that Rumsfeld received. She has had the highest approval ratings of anyone in the administration, and she continues to earn approval ratings that are higher than her boss'.
But as the Bush administration's overall foreign policy has come under fire, and other senior officials have left the administration, Rice is starting to take the heat previously reserved for Rumsfeld. Developing...

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