Rice vs. reality, or Worst. SecState. Ever.

Dr. Pangloss on the march

Somehow, having expected that Condoleezza Rice would be this much of a dissembling* shill doesn’t make me feel one bit better.

Rice:

So I think we’re on a good course [in Iraq]. It is, to be fair, bumpy. And it is, to be fair, one that is not a straight line. It tends to zig and zag and things go right and things go wrong.

Reality:

Insurgent attacks kill at least 151 in Iraq

Insurgents launched more than a dozen suicide bombings, assassinations and execution-style killings in Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 151 people and wounding more than 300.

Rice:

I always found – there was an argument, you know, was Iraq supporting al-Qaida and all of these things and you know, we could round and round those arguments. I think there is plenty of evidence that there is an al-Qaida presence in Iraq. But let me set that aside for a moment.

Reality:

Al Qaeda-Hussein Link Is Dismissed

The Sept. 11 commission reported yesterday that it has found no “collaborative relationship” between Iraq and al Qaeda, challenging one of the Bush administration’s main justifications for the war in Iraq.

Rice:

Well, let me talk a little bit about the political situation because I think that the most interesting thing to me about Iraq is that politics has broken out in Iraq in a really major way. And the Iraqis seem to enjoy politics.

Reality:

Iraq finishes new constitution but without Sunni approval in setback to U.S. efforts

Iraqi negotiators finished the new constitution Sunday and referred it to the voters but without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs, a major setback for the U.S. strategy to lure Sunnis away from the insurgency and hasten the day U.S. troops can go home.

The absence of Sunni Arab endorsement, after more than two months of intensive negotiations, raised fears of more violence and set the stage for a bitter political fight ahead of an Oct. 15 nationwide referendum on the document.

A political battle along religious and ethnic lines threatened to sharpen communal divisions at a time when relations among the Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds appear to be worsening.

But then, we already knew that Rice’s connection to reality always was - to be fair - “not a straight line”.

*Not to be confused with “disassembling.”

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