Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented a montage of political commentary including serious and humorous views on diplomacy in two events on campus Wednesday.
The first a discussion at the School of Law entitled “Foreign Policy in a Post-9/11 World addressed a number of topics, ranging from the current situation in Egypt to her roots as the daughter of a Presbyterian minister growing up in Birmingham, Ala.
Rice, who served as national security advisor from 2001 to 2005 and secretary of state from 2005 to 2009, spoke candidly to a packed audience in the Henry J. and Gloria Caruso Auditorium. She did not shy away from questions, posed by conversationalists and the audience that addressed controversial topics relating to foreign policy during the George W. Bush administration. She touched on a broad range of issues, including the current crisis in Egypt, Iran policy, the Israel-Palestine Conflict, WMDs in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld’s new book and Africa policy.
In regard to Egypt, Rice addressed the current stalemate between the protesters’ demands and the administration of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
She put forward the following question: Which should we be supporting: stability for us or freedom for the Egyptian people?
“We tried very hard in the Bush administration to make the case that there were certain non-negotiable demands of human beings. The right to live in freedom is not something that’s bound by culture or religion but everyone wants to be able to say what they think and worship as they please she explained. I think we are seeing in the streets of Egypt that that is in fact a universal value.
“The United States does have strategic interests as well as problems but we’ve always been served best when we recognize that in the long term we are always better off if our values triumph.”
While expressing the importance of values influencing foreign policy she also expressed a belief in the power of the democratic process saying “I think that there’s a fair chance that if the [Muslim] Brotherhood is made to compete in free and fair elections the slogan ‘Elect us and we will impose Sharia law and oh by the way we may make your children suicide bombers’ is not going to actually be a very popular slogan. So I have long favored allowing these Islamist parties to contest in politics because it is the only way that you strip them of this kind of romanticism of the great resistance and show them to be what they are which is people who have a view and a course that is probably not very popular with the greater majority in the Middle East and certainly in Egypt.”
She also addressed the touchy topic of WMDs in Iraq explaining “I think we knew really at the end of summer beginning of the fall2003 that we weren’t finding them and something had gone wrong she said. I like I think everybody in the administration was floored
But she also expressed gladness that Saddam had been overthrown and that the U.S is not currently trying to assess the possibility of an arms race between Ahmadinejad and Saddam Hussein which I think is where we might have been.”
Though she spent some time addressing serious topics she also expressed a humorous side as well.
Commenting on Iran she joked “I’d love to think there was a responsible Iran hiding in the clothes of Ahmadinejad.”
She also joked about Donald Rumsfeld’s new book “Known and Unknown in which he criticizes her. In response to a question about his comments, she replied, Don and I are friends. I just saw him at George Schultz’s 90th birthday party and we danced.”
In her speech at Elkins yesterday evening she covered similar topics and included advice for students in today’s world.
“America is too focused on today’s headlines and not worried enough about history’s judgment she affirmed.
Rice made specific suggestions to help the country attend to long-term consequences of national behavior rather than knee-jerk reactions catered to current public interest.
First on Rice’s proposed list of priorities was to adequately defend the country, claiming that post-9/11 America is safer but not yet safe” from foreign terrorist threats. Rice also touched on the importance of thoroughly completing the war in Afghanistan as well as the danger stirring nearby in Mexico.
“It isn’t powerful states that are most dangerous she explained. It’s the powerless failed and failing states like Afghanistan.”
According to Rice the U.S. also has the obligation to advocate the “inalienable and universal rights” of all people. Rebuking the claims that the U.S. imposes democracy on foreign countries Rice stated “You don’t have to impose democracy it just happens. You do have to impose tyranny.”
On the economy Rice asserted that financial recovery will require “creativity innovation and risk-taking being lead by the private sector. While many argue that China is economically competitive with the United States to become the global leader, Rice asked, Is a country terrified of the power of the Internet likely to lead the knowledge revolution?”
The lecture became tailored to the Elkins audience when Rice pressed the responsibility of all educated people to take advantage of higher learning opportunities. Senior Jessica Rowe while critical of the political justification of the Bush administration in Rice’s speech did appreciate her comments on students.
“I enjoyed that [Rice] spoke about how we should feel privileged as college students to have the opportunity of higher education Rowe said. I liked hearing that we should not let circumstances but rather the decisions we make define us.”
In the last portion of her speech Rice continued to focus on the potential of students in the audience.
“America has a way of making the impossible seem inevitable Rice said.
Freshman Kevin Leite was impressed by the highly positive manner that Rice referred to the public-minded” current generation of college students in her lecture.
“This generation gets bashed for being too fed-up and materialistic Leite said. For [Rice] to be so insightful and believe in our generation telling us to slow down and take our futures step by step was really powerful.”
Junior Mimi Rothfus agreed. “I was really happy she came and I think she was very inspiring. I don’t agree with all her politics but nevertheless I really respect her.”
Rice closed her comments at the School of Law with advice for students “You’ve got a long life ahead of you. You don’t have to do everything at once take it one step at a time and try to concentrate on the next step.”