4um: Rice: 'Ludicrous' to say administration has 'bunker mentality'

Title: Rice: 'Ludicrous' to say administration has 'bunker mentality'
Source: USA Today
URL Source: http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitic ... 07/12/rice-ludicrous.html#more
Published: Dec 21, 2007
Author: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence
Post Date: 2007-12-21 13:24:27 by _______
Keywords: NeoCons
Views: 78
Comments: 4

At the State Department this morning, Secretary Condoleezza Rice was asked about Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's assertion in Foreign Affairs magazine that the Bush administration's foreign policy has been characterized by an "arrogant bunker mentality" and go-it-alone approach.

Here's the question she was asked and how she responded, according to the transcript from CQ Transcriptions:

Question: "Madam Secretary, Mike Huckabee recently said that this administration has a go-it-alone foreign policy, that it has a arrogant, bunker mentality that's hurt America around the world.

And we also recently heard from John Bolton, who said that the Bush administration's foreign policy is in a free fall, and it's because the president has been listening to you too much."

Rice: "Gee."

Question: "So I would just like to give you opportunity: What do you make of this?"

Rice: "Look, I don't comment on other people's comments. I don't have time, all right. I really don't have time to worry about this.

"Let me just tell you what I think of where we stand in America's policy.

"We have right now probably the strongest trans-Atlantic relations, interactions that we've had certainly during this administration, and I would say in a very long time.

"If you look at the relationship with France, which is being put to good use in Lebanon, the kind of interaction the president had with President Sarkozy when he came here; if you loom at the relationship between Angela Merkel's government -- and it's not just the chancellor. It is the relationship I have with Frank-Walter Steinmeyer the relationship that I have with Bernard Kouchner. You know, the British, it's always been a solid relationship.

"We go to NATO, we solve problems together, we've got NATO fighting in Afghanistan.

"The idea that somehow this is a go-it-alone policy is just simply ludicrous. And one would only have to be not observing the facts, let me say that, to say that this is now a go-it-alone foreign policy.

"We're working with allies in Asia on North Korea. We're working with allies in Europe, Russia and China on Iran. We're -- the alliance is mobilized together in Afghanistan. We had 50-plus countries at Annapolis to launch the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. We're working together with allies in Lebanon.

"I can go on and on and on and on. And so, I would just say to people, look at the facts."

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Added Rice, "This administration is simply incapable of any type of mentality-- let alone bunker."

It's really sad to see what we've come to in terms of our 'diplomats/statesmen, etc.'