How can Rice still assert that Iraq was a threat in early 2003? The reasons put forth to make that argument were that he had ongoing WMD programs and stockpiles, and that he had links with terrorists. We know it was not true. So what does she base her "threat" assessment on?

Bush is demanding a rubber stamp bill from the congress that, as usual, is completely devoid of accountability. Rather than softening the language of the bill after Bush vetoes it, Congress should fill it with new and more demanding accountability language.

****It's whether you believe you're in a stronger position today to deal with the threat, or whether you're going to be in a stronger position tomorrow.****

What threat did Iraq make? We most assuredly had some genuine threats to concern ourselves with but they weren't coming from Iraq...the chaos in Iraq is a direct result of the arrogance, incompetence, stubborness and ignorance of our so-called leaders...Bush Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rove, et al. They plunged is into this mess justifying it with a pack of lies and they continue to pile lies on top of lies to this day, hoping the citizenry will forget the crap they fed us at the start.

It would seem to me that if the neocons want their war, the burden is on them to put a compromise on the table that Congress can live with. Otherwise, stomp their foot and shake their fist, it does not get funded. Works for me. I am one of the people who wants our troops home sooner, not later.

But that's not what Condi Rice was saying when we were led to war. She said Iraq was an immediate threat and she even threatened imminent nuclear capability.

Rice is dishonest if she thinks that we were not sold a war that had to happen ASAP because of a real threat. This is all we heard from this administration at the time. Never was there talk that we may become weaker to defend ourselves from Saddam. The war was sold with dire, 911 type consequences, if we don't act NOW. Murtha is correct about impeaching the President. Bush is just moving the same dirt and blood on the battlefield to slightly different locations and has lost the capacity to even understand why we are in Iraq anymore (WMDs remember? regime change maybe?). Bush's refusal to set conditions for our continuing commitment in Iraq has sent clear signals to the sectarian elements to use this time to prepare for the inevitable division of Iraq. We are not training and supplying the Iraq army as much as we are aiding and abetting shia designs on the region that will face sunni forces when the time comes. The sooner we leave with as much weapondry as possible the better to diminish the broader confragation in the future. Either way, when we leave, A.Q. in Iraq will be liquidated.

Members of the Bush administration have a credibility problem, as do those old political hacks on both sides of the isle who are running for President in '08. A study of our economy shows that it doesn't matter who is in control of Congress or the White House, because the government is going to keep on ticking regardless of who is in office. It cost money to run our government, and when all is said and done, the only losers in American politics are the old, infirmed, young, and disabled. No candidate or office holder in the current lineup will receive a mandate. So it's likely that they will continue to line their own pockets and those of their supporters, and leave the rest of us to scrape by without receiving adequate medical/dental care, without affordable health insurance if over a certain age but not yet eligible for Medicare, and without an aggressive approach to cleaning up our air and water. I'm disappointed in our government and wish it would clean itself up. But, sadely, I know it won't and so does the rest of the world who dispises us for our abuse and exploitation of Iraq.

This is the no-compromise administration. It will be their downfall, and it will be the downfall of the Republican party as well.

Condi has time to ruin my Sunday morning with her pathetic lies but she can't handle going in front of Waxman's House commitee?Nice Secretary of State we have! Who pays your salary, Condi?

I love the 2 month idea. Bush would have a hard time vetoing "badly" needed money because it was only for 2 months.

John McCain was one of the unholy three senators who killed habeas corpus, at least for detainees held for year after year without charge. He has voted for everything the administration wants, including the Patriot Act. So now he says he would close Guantanamo if he is elected president. WHY WAIT, SENATOR???? Why not end all our illegal/immoral activities now by writing legislation that would conform to the Geneva Conventions and outlaw torture right now?

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like their brain is drawn out into a long, pliable strand of pretzel dough and then entwined, seemingly at will, whenever C. Rice speaks? There is ALWAYS LITTLE SUBSTANCE in her answers, in my opinion. It also feels like maybe there is a ring the interviewer can pull in order to extract one of, maybe, 20 possible nonanswers. Maybe it is just me. Maybe, and this is really paranoid sounding, Condi isn't worried about testifying because MAYBE, with POSSE COMITATUS tossed in October, we won`t have a regime change?

Shoots Down Deal? Shes Never Brokered A Successful Deal EVER! NOT ONCE!

Rice says Bill could tamper ``flexibility and creativity``. This is a civil war not a football game. And why ``flexibility``now from the most dug in policy administration in history? DoubleSpeak

Cognitive Dissonance: A pull out would be an admission of a mistake going in. And then there is all that oil money bubbling beneath the blood soaked sand.

There will be lots of worsts for the George Walker Bush administration in governance of the United States since its inception and Condaleeza Rice will head the list for the United States State Department.

If the enemy knows that funding and troop levels are very much linked to the Iraqi government meeting the benchmarks, this is all the intelligence the enemy needs to know. All the parties whose interests meet that of Iran and Syria, will do every damage on all levels to see these benchmarks take more time than necessary like rejecting the abolishing of debaathification rule, putting all obstacles that lead to fair distribution of oil revenue, or any combination as the case may. This state will surely be combined with further increase in terrorism for maximum effect to trigger the most important consequence of all which is the troop withdrawal according to the set timetable as the result of the government failure to meet the benchmarks - will the enemy miss this great opportunity? Do not give the enemy the chance it needs, and give General Petraeus all the flexibility he needs.

I thought Biden was good on Meet the Press. Most impressive were two items left off the list. First, he tied the coarseness in our national life to the Gingrich Revolution. Russert was incredibly thick-headed in not making the connection between shock jocks and the lack of civility in our society. Second, I like how Biden used a public health approach of prevention to investing in preventing physical and mental illness, preventing terrorist strikes, and the pay-offs for improved international image. How hard is it for folks to grasp, preventing problems is often the cheapest way of dealing with them. They are investments, not charity. As one adage puts it-- a stitch in time saves nine. Another way of putting it is a stitch in time, prevents an unraveling. As for Bidens interest in a Cabinet post, sounds fine to me. But, I think he is too limiting in his mentioning only of State, HHS is another possibility, IMO.

Rice on the three majors today is the essence of silliness. Like, who in the world listens to her? is there chance whatsoever she'll say anything useful? It's no longer even interesting to catch her in lies. But here's one---remember her in the leather over the knee black boots? Didn't we know then?

Dr. Rice was on three of the four morning TV talks today and, disappointingly, dodged all the [same] questions. Really, it`s long past time for her to ``butch up,`` especially in the light of Mr. Wolfowitz` impending availability.

Defeating Al-Qaeda in Iraq is the mantra of Repubs. However, facts from sources other than Fox News and the WaPo don't support the view that Al-Qaeda is the force wreaking havoc in that country. Extremists on the Sunni and Shia side are fighting a civil war, attacking each other, and kill and maim US soldiers in the middle of their conflict. When will the people in the Repub party wake up to that fact?

Perhaps Bush's envoys to the Iraq conference next week should ask if Congress's war bill is okay to sign. Maybe the bunch of them would also like the bunch of us to get out and let the MidEast countries help Iraq reconstruct itself.

Godspeed Rep. Murtha. IMPEACHMENT of Bush and Cheney is the only honorable, viable alternative left. This administration is way too arrogant, and way too corrupt, they will not listen nor compromise. Impeachment is very much deserved, and long overdue.

Condi lacks credibility and while she has a fondness with words and is able to readily call upon them to evade answering questions, she is a total disservice to the American public in her role as Secretary of State just as she was when she was National Security Adviser. She, like Gonzalez seem content to serve the interests of this administration loyally, but does it really matter if the democracy we once knew disintegrates while these mindgames continue to be played by every Bush representative? When its time for a full court press on these news programs and in the press in general out comes Condi and Cheney. Thanks to the 2006 election we don't have to suffer with Rumsfeld's arrogance anymore! Americans are tired of the slight of hand interpretations of how well this war is going and regurgitated doublespeak that continues to attempt to cover up the damning lies that were told to create it. What's worse is Condi's determination to make for some "creative chaos" in the Middle East. I don't believe this administration wants to see Iraq or any part of the ME stabilize. I wouldn't put it past this government's collusion with the "mercenary army" in Iraq they are perfectly comfortable with, that's responsible for the increased bombings in Iraq--- in contrast with the "surge" and increased security operations. In otherwords, the Bush WH will do anything to keep this war going until the next election.

God help us and rid us of Condi and the rest of the WH crowd of deceivers that brought on this illgotten war!

Condi lacks credibility and while she has a fondness with words and is able to readily call upon them to evade answering questions, she is a total disservice to the American public in her role as Secretary of State just as she was when she was National Security Adviser. She, like Gonzalez seem content to serve the interests of this administration loyally, but does it really matter if the democracy we once knew disintegrates while these mindgames continue to be played by every Bush representative? When its time for a full court press on these news programs and in the press in general out comes Condi and Cheney. Thanks to the 2006 election we don't have to suffer with Rumsfeld's arrogance anymore! Americans are tired of the slight of hand interpretations of how well this war is going and regurgitated doublespeak that continues to attempt to cover up the damning lies that were told to create it. What's worse is Condi's determination to make for some "creative chaos" in the Middle East. I don't believe this administration wants to see Iraq or any part of the ME stabilize. I wouldn't put it past this government's collusion with the "mercenary army" in Iraq they are perfectly comfortable with, that's responsible for the increased bombings in Iraq--- in contrast with the "surge" and increased security operations. In otherwords, the Bush WH will do anything to keep this war going until the next election.

God help us and rid us of Condi and the rest of the WH crowd of deceivers that brought on this illgotten war!

Here's a quote from Rice from February 24 2001 *We had a good discussion, the Foreign Minister and I and the President and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions -- the fact that the sanctions exist -- not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq...*

Imminent threat my arse.

Bush is simple minded, Cheney is pig headed, Rice is smooth but timid--not a trio that commands much respect or can be expected to come up with breakthroughs. The U.S. has shriveled to a bit player in the diplomatic world.

Same old Republican line...we'll be happy to compromise as long as you give me everything I want and you get nothing in return. This administration has shown a learning curve of absolutely zero. As a result of their incompetence, they have lost all credibility except among the "bitter enders". It's one thing to be arrogant and accomplish something...but to demonstrate failure and arrogance is a pretty unpalatible combination.

Someone send a dictionary to Rice and recommend that she looks up the definition of "imminent", i.e., "about to occur, impending"... That is quite different from "It's whether you believe you're in a stronger position today to deal with the threat, or whether you're going to be in a stronger position tomorrow."

"It assumes that it's going to give incentives to the right people. I'm afraid it might give incentives to the wrong people. People who don't want it to happen will wait us out, because the Iraqis, many of whom are paying great sacrifice to try to make this national unity government work, want to be able to move forward on the reconciliation," Rice said."

This argument does not hold water. If you don't try, you will certainly get no results. This, once again, reflects the Administration's intent to run out the clock until Bush is out of office, at which point the whole mess will be dropped in the lap of the new Administration, allowing BushCo to put all the blame on others.

Golly ! You mean Rice thinks we ought to have an open ended funding and procurement system to support this nonpolicy we have in IRAQ ? $8 Billion a week for the next 30 years , right ? She ought to be impeached for having the depth of Bush , but it might be too embarassingly cruel when it comes out just how incompetent she is . I mean we wouldn't want to hurt her feelings , would we ? Just what the Hell are we doing in a civil war after not finding WMDs there ? What has she done to solve the ongoing problem of the Israeli/Palestinian situation ? Does she have any idea as to how much ground could be cut out from under the feet of islamic terrorists if Israel stopped trying to colonize the West Bank ? How can we have a Secretary of State who has no PLAN to follow wherever she travels ? Now, we get to read how she thinks the president will veto Bill after Bill if they have ANYTHING with to do with getting us out of a quagmire..er..excuse me, IRAQ . Golly , she sure is swell, isn't she ?