Condoleezza Rice, History and Iraq

On May 7, 2007, in a conversation with Charlie Rose, Condoleezza Rice, described herself as a student of history and said that often in history it seemed "impossible we were going to overcome." Rose mentioned overcoming the Nazis and the Soviet Union and Rice picked up on it. Rice, with her usual charm, sided with a misuse of history. (Her field of study was political science.) In World War II the U.S. was not on the side of "impossible" circumstances. To the contrary, circumstances were on the side of the United States and its allies, in productive capacity and manpower. It was the Germans and Japanese in World War II who were struggling with impossible circumstances, with Germans believing in the power of will and the Japanese believing in the power of spirit.

During the Korean War, circumstances were again on our side, given the goal of the Truman administration to roll back the invasion from North Vietnam - a limited goal that did not include conquering China as some wanted, which would have created more difficult circumstances. In Korea, the U.S. and our allies - under the aegis of the United Nations - applied the fire power necessary to roll back the drive by Communist forces into South Korea.

Regarding success against the Soviet Union, the U.S. was in an arms race with that "evil empire" and in a contest for influence across the globe. Some were pessimistic and alarmist about the struggle between Marxist-Leninism and free enterprise, but many recognized that we had the advantage and that peace rather than war would eventually bring success. Socialist schemes in Africa, drawing from the Soviet or Chinese economic model, were not working. Free enterprise was working and adopted even by the Chinese. Many saw reforms on their way in the Soviet Union and were not surprised by the rise of Gorbachev. What some describe as a victory in the Cold War was hardly unforeseen or the overcoming of "impossible" circumstances.

The issue discussed by Rose and Rice was circumstances in Iraq. Rice's goal in Iraq is support for the Maliki government in order to create stable democracy. In applying distorted history she refused to consider the possiblity that her policy regarding Iraq could fail. She was choosing optimism over accepting limits.

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