Rice says US won't pull plug on Iraq

[DehydratedPorkMan]

JERUSALEM - Americans' skepticism about Iraq will not change until they see progress, but the U.S. will not "pull the plug" on the war, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

Rice, at the start of a Mideast trip, would not detail any backup strategy if President Bush's updated war plan comes up short or if the Iraq government fails to hold up its end.

"We're going to get an opportunity to see whether or not this is working, whether or not the Iraqis are living up to their obligations," Rice said Friday.

The top U.S. diplomat decried what she called "the notion ... that, 'Are you just going to pull the plug?'"

"We're not pulling the plug on Iraq," she said.

Most Americans say today they do not support the war or approve of how Bush has handled it.

"What will convince the American people that there's going to be a good outcome here is changes on the ground," Rice said. "No poll is going to change until there is something to show."

Rice arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday on a trip designed partly to prod Iraq's neighbors to lend more help to the struggling government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The Bush administration is relying on al-Maliki for the success of the plan Bush announced Wednesday to make Baghdad safer from sectarian violence.

Bush sought support for the U.S. military buildup in telephone calls Friday to Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak. Rice is scheduled to see both leaders in the next few days.

Rice also is testing possible initiatives to nudge Israel and the Palestinians closer to a political accommodation. The United States wants to move more swiftly to shore up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, locked in a power struggle with the Islamic militant group Hamas.

"I'm not coming with a proposal, I'm not coming with a plan," Rice said.

Ahead of Rice's visit to the Palestinian territories, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas contended Saturday that Israel and the United States were trying to fan the flames of a Palestinian civil war.

On Iraq, Bush's move to send an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to the country is running into the stiffest congressional opposition since the war began almost four years ago.

At a tense hearing this past week where Rice testified, furious senators referred to sinking public support for a war that has cost nearly $400 billion and taken more than 3,000 U.S. lives.

The reception was more hostile than the administration had expected, but Rice had a ready reply.

"I heard skepticism. I didn't hear alternatives that one can really pursue," she said Friday.

Rice said flagging support for the war at home does not weaken her hand abroad.

Arab allies regularly urge the U.S. to reinvigorate Israeli-Arab peace efforts as a start toward addressing problems elsewhere, including in Iraq and
Iran.

Although Rice seemed eager to switch focus from Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian problems may prove equally difficult.

Careful to avoid sounding too optimistic, Rice said there is a new opportunity for progress and suggested she will reward Abbas for standing firm against Hamas. The Bush administration soon will ask Congress to approve $85 million to train and equip Abbas' security forces. Also, Rice did not rule out a bold stroke to propose rough boundaries of an eventual Palestinian state.

Abbas has said he needs to be able to offer Palestinians a vision of a political future that makes the frustrating effort to seek peace seem worthwhile. Abbas has pledged to seek peace with Israel and last month held a much-anticipated meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

U.S officials are dismayed at the yearlong drift in peace efforts since Hamas won parliamentary elections and took control of much of the Palestinian government. Hamas refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel, leading the West to cut off vital international aid.

Abbas was elected separately and retains his post, but he has limited power. He has been unable to negotiate a compromise unity government with Hamas, but he has improved his international standing.

The U.S. money for Abbas' security services would be a significant vote of confidence because those forces have a troubled history of corruption and rights violations under Abbas' predecessor, the late
Yasser Arafat.

Hamas accuses Washington of trying to provoke a broader intra-Palestinian military confrontation between Hamas and Abbas'
Fatah faction, and Hamas points to the money for arms as evidence. Rice stressed that the money would pay for training and other things apart from weaponry, and that it comes with strings attached.

Haniyeh said in a televised speech Saturday that one of the foundations of the U.S. and Israeli policies "is to trap the Palestinian people in the flames of civil war and an unstoppable Palestinian-Palestinian conflict, to transform this conflict from a Palestinian-Israeli one into a Palestinian-Palestinian conflict."

Haniyeh did not elaborate, but urged the Palestinians to end weeks of deadly internal fighting.

FIRST OFF:
What is it with the need to come up with stupid phrases? Shut the fuck up about the stupid plug.
Also, "We're going to get an opportunity to see whether or not this is working, whether or not the Iraqis are living up to their obligations," Rice said Friday. (Does she even know what their obligations were? I think that's kind of rude to come in, eventually kill their leader before his court issues are finished and tell them what has to be done.
LASTLY:
You gotta love how the term, "Most Americans say today they do not support the war or approve of how Bush has handled it," pops up in 98% of news stories concerning the war.