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“We have a Black president. We’ve had two Black secretaries of state. We have Black CEOs. Obviously African-Americans are pushing way into territories that, probably, my grandparents would never have thought possible,” Rice said on CBS’s Face the Nation, but added that race will always be a factor in American life.

It is a birth defect with which this country was born out of slavery; we’re never really going to be race blind,” she said.
She pointed to the confluence of race and poverty as a particularly troubling constraint for overcoming inequality, and wondered if that problem isn’t becoming even more exacerbated in recent years.

Read more at TheRoot.com

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Rice admitted that she was on vacation and shopping for shoes when the news of Hurricane Katrina came.

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The Grio reports:

“I should have known better than to leave for New York with that Hurricane approaching for the south for New Orleans,” she said. “Yes, I was Secretary of State. That was very much on my mind. I was one of the president’s closest advisors and the highest ranking African-American. I really do feel I let him down in the first days of Katrina.”

Rice was not the only Bush administration official on vacation at that time. Many White House staff were on summer break. Some were in Greece for a fellow staffer’s wedding. And Bush was away too, celebrating Sen. John McCain’s 69th birthday in Arizona.

Read More At The Grio

She talks about her experience during Hurricane Katrina and her immediate response.

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The Daily Beast reports:

The next morning, I went shopping at the Ferragamo shoe store down the block from my hotel, returned to the Palace to await Randy and Mariann’s arrival, and again turned on the television. The airwaves were filled with devastating pictures from New Orleans. And the faces of most of the people in distress were black. I knew right away that I should never have left Washington. I called my chief of staff, Brian Gunderson. “I’m coming home,” I said.

“Yeah. You’d better do that,” he answered.

Then I called the President. “Mr. President, I’m coming back. I don’t know how much I can do, but we clearly have a race problem,” I said.

Read More At The Daily Beast

Rice says that she used his infatuation with her as leverage to make important negotiations for the U.S. government. She says her visit may have aided America in stopping the leader from using Weapons of Mass Destruction.

It was Ramadan at the time of my visit, and after sundown the “Brother Leader” insisted that I join him for dinner in his private kitchen. Colby Cooper, who had overseen the arrangements for the trip, protested that this hadn’t been the plan. My security detail did as well, especially when they were told to stay outside. I thought I could take care of myself and went in. At the end of dinner, Qaddafi told me that he’d made a videotape for me. Uh oh, I thought, what is this going to be? It was a quite innocent collection of photos of me with world leaders—President Bush, Vladimir Putin, Hu Jintao, and so on—set to the music of a song called “Black Flower in the White House,” written for me by a Libyan composer. It was weird, but at least it wasn’t raunchy.

As I watched events unfold in the spring and summer of 2011, I wondered if he even understood fully what was going on around him. And I was very, very glad that we had disarmed him of his most dangerous weapons of mass destruction. There in his bunker, making his last stand, I have no doubt he would have used them.

Read more at TheDailyBeast.com

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After Colin Powell criticized Dick Cheney for “cheap shots” in his book, another former secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice has taken issue with his book as well.

Rice called Cheney’s assertion that Rice misled President Bush about negotiations between the White House and North Korea “attacks on my integrity.”

The New York Daily News reports:

“I kept the president fully and completely informed about every in and out of the negotiations with the North Koreans,” Rice told Reuters on Wednesday.

“You can talk about policy differences without suggesting that your colleague somehow misled the president. You know, I don’t appreciate the attack on my integrity that that implies.”

Read More At The New York Daily News

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It has long been reported that Gaddafi has admired Rice. Previously Gaddafi has taken Rice out to a private dinner and given her hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts.

The Huffington Post reports:

The discovery was perhaps not surprising given Gaddafi’s much-professed admiration of Rice, MSNBC is noting. “I support my darling black African woman,” Gaddafi told al-Jazeera television in 2007, according to The Guardian. “I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders…Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. I love her very much. I admire her and I’m proud of her because she’s a black woman of African origin.”

Read More At The Huffington Post

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Rice will be playing an ex-girlfriend of Alec Baldwin; a continuation of a reference to her in the first season when Baldwin’s character said he was dating a “high-ranking African-American member of the Bush Administration.”

Source

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Aretha Franklin Performs With Condoleezza Rice In Philadelphia

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Start Gallery

PHILADELPHIA – Condoleezza Rice is no stranger to the whims of royalty. So when the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, decided the two should get together to play a song or two for charity, it was decreed.

The former U.S. secretary of state and Franklin took the stage Tuesday evening at Philadelphia’s Mann Music Center in a rare duet for Rice, the classically trained pianist, and Franklin, the divalicious voice of a generation. Their aim was to raise money for urban children and awareness for music and the arts.

“It is a joint effort for the inner-city youth of Philadelphia and Detroit,” Franklin told The Associated Press the night before their concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

“We decided to give it a try,” Franklin said. “So here we are, in the city of Brotherly — and Sisterly — Love.”

Their appearance in the three-hour concert before an estimated crowd of 8,000 overflowed with Franklin’s catalog of hits and arias from the world of opera and classical music.

Rice, better known as a diplomat and national security adviser, played piano while Franklin sang her hit “I Say A Little Prayer” as well as “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Earlier in the program, Rice performed a selection from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor with the orchestra, a piece she said she practiced furiously.

Franklin even tickled the ivories a few times Tuesday night, including for a song off her new album “A Woman Falling Out of Love,” to be released later this year. She also sang a duet — “The Way We Were” — with surprise guest Ronald Isley.

Rice’s given name is derived from the Italian opera stage instruction con dolcezza, meaning “with sweetness.” Long a musician of note, she played from elementary school through college and beyond, in quartets and performing chamber music.

She has even played with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. But, she said this was “the first time I’ve played with an orchestra since I was 18.”

When she learned that Rice played classical music, Franklin sent for one of her recordings “to hear what she sounded like.”

Previously, she said, “All I had seen of Dr. Rice was in a political atmosphere. It just seemed foreign that she would be a classical pianist.”

Franklin was surprised.

“She really does play,” Franklin said. “She’s formidable.”

The two met at a White House function, Rice recalled. “We were just talking and chatting and she said ‘You play, don’t you?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And she said we should do something together.”

Rice told the AP their plan to play together was borne of their mutual appreciation for music and determination to keep it near and accessible to children.

Franklin, relaxing in her hotel suite and holding a single long-stemmed peach-hued rose, deplored school budget cuts of music and arts programs as “a travesty” that cannot be allowed.

“Imagine what all of this would be without music. If you have to cut, cut something else. Not the music. We need the music. It soothes the savage beast. We need the music.”

Rice, in a separate interview, agreed.

“Nothing makes me more unhappy than when I hear people talk about music education in the schools as extracurricular,” Rice said.

Both women lauded each other’s talents, and abilities, but Rice made it clear she’ll leave the singing to Franklin.

“You do not want to hear me sing!” Rice said. “I’m a good choir musician, but I think I will stick to playing the piano.”

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Start Gallery

PHILADELPHIA — Aretha Franklin will take the stage next month with an accomplished accompanist more famous for diplomacy: Condoleezza Rice.

The pair will play at Philadelphia’s Mann Center for the Performing Arts on July 27 in show that will feature Franklin’s music and classical composers.

The Mann Center’s website says former Secretary of State Rice will accompany Franklin on piano for “Say A Little Prayer,” “Natural Woman,” selections from Mozart and more.

Franklin says in a statement that “Rice is a consummate classical pianist” and that since I sing the arias, I thought that we could do something, a bipartisan effort for our favorite charities.”

The venue says the performance is a benefit for programs that support inner city children and its own education initiatives.

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From the Birmingham Business Record:

Former Secretary of State and Birmingham native Condoleezza Rice will serve as a senior adviser to Regions Financial Corp.’s board of directors and executive management, the bank announced Tuesday.

Rice, who currently serves as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of political science at Stanford University, will provide advice and counsel on current regional and global issues that may affect Regions, the Birmingham bank said in a news release.

“Dr. Rice has a special interest in working with the largest public company headquartered in her hometown and contributing to its continued growth,” said Dowd Ritter, chairman, president and CEO. “We are fortunate to have someone of her tremendous quality and experience both in Washington and around the world. Her assistance in helping us navigate through today’s rapidly changing environment and uncertain times will be invaluable to Regions’ management and Board of Directors.”

Click here to read more.

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Those in Congress who would like to see the U.S. begin to pull out of Afghanistan don’t have a supporter in former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In a new interview with Fortune Magazine, Rice offered extremely sharp criticism of the idea of withdrawal and painted the consequences of this course of action with an almost Cheneyesque bluntness.

“The last time we left Afghanistan, and we abandoned Pakistan,” she said, “that territory became the very territory on which Al Qaeda trained and attacked us on September 11th. So our national security interests are very much tied up in not letting Afghanistan fail again and become a safe haven for terrorists.
“It’s that simple,” she declared, “if you want another terrorist attack in the U.S., abandon Afghanistan.”

As the Washington Post reported Monday, Obama is rethinking all aspects of the U.S. strategy in the Afghanistan in light of the disputed presidential election, an increase in U.S. casualties and waning public support here in America.

]]> http://newsone.com/309087/condi-rice-says-leaving-afghanistan-will-lead-to-more-terrorism/feed/ 19 Condi Rice Says Leaving Afghanistan Will Lead To More Terrorism (thumbnail) ionesfontaine condoleezza-rice-7 http://newsone.com/302777/condoleezza-rice-joins-former-whites-only-golf-club/ http://newsone.com/302777/condoleezza-rice-joins-former-whites-only-golf-club/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:30:53 +0000 Smokey D. Fontaine http://newsone.com/?p=302777 ]]>

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has joined two exclusive golf clubs in Alabama.

Rice is a native of Birmingham and has family there, though she does not own a home in the city. Chief of Staff Colby Cooper says the golf memberships at Greystone Golf & Country Club and Shoal Creek golf club are part of an effort to reach out to citizens of her home state.

Shoal Creek came under fire for having no black members in 1990 as it prepared to host a major tournament.

Rice has visited the Birmingham area twice in the past four months. She was in town last week researching a book about her parents and found time for golf at Shoal Creek with club president Bobby Luckie.

Rice is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution public policy research group at Stanford University.

When people lack a critical understanding of their reality, apprehending it in fragments which they do not perceive as interacting constituent elements of the whole, they cannot truly know that reality. Paulo Freire

Condi is back in the news. That is, Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State and before that Chief at the National Security Agency (NSA). She is back to set the record straight. She didn’t do it! Or she did it but with an understanding or under orders or—never mind! It was all legal! It’s Condi’s welcome home!

There’s a festive atmosphere with a little dinner, suited academics and administrators. Select photographers surround the former provost as she is welcomed to the research environment of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Then, there are the students. One student video tapes the encounter. It’s just like old times, except so much has happened since she left home.

Student: How are we supposed to continue promoting America as this guiding light of democracy and how are we supposed to win hearts and minds in the world as long as we continue with these actions?

Rice: Well, first of all, you do what’s right. That’s the most important thing — that you make a judgment of what’s right.  And in terms of enhanced interrogation, and rendition, and all the issues around the detainees. Abu Ghraib is, and everyone said, Abu Ghraib was not policy. Abu Ghraib was wrong and nobody would argue with… Abu Ghraib was not a policy? What about Bagram and Gitmo? What about the history of detention for Native Indians and detention camps now for Haitian and Latin American immigrants awaiting deportation? What about the countless prisons housing a huge population of Black and Brown people?

When a student stated that the U.S, tortured detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Condi said, “No dear, you’re wrong!” In fact, according to Condi, Gitmo was considered a model “medium security prison”!! And torture?

Student: I read a recent report, recently, that said that you did a memo, you were the one who authorized torture to the — I’m sorry, not torture, waterboarding. Is waterboarding torture?

Rice: The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligations, legal obligations, under the Convention against torture. So that’s — and by the way, I didn’t authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency. That they had policy authorization subject to the Justice Department’s clearance. That’s what I did.

Student: Okay. Is waterboarding torture?

Rice: I just said — the United States was told, we were told, nothing that violates our obligations under the Convention Against Torture. And so, by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Conventions Against Torture.

Student: Thank you.

Rice: Alright.

But it’s not all right. Article 2 of the Convention Against Torture “prohibits torture.” It applies to all territories and no exception circumstances justify torture—and that includes war or the threat of war or terrorist acts. Torture can’t be justified as a means to protect public safety. Torture can’t be ordered by superior officers or public officials. Somehow, the now-professor of International Policy missed classes on the day the professor discussed Article 2 and the ban on torture. Kudos to those brave students who didn’t show up to stand in awe with pen and paper waiting for her autograph. These students actually wanted to know something. They wanted to confront an authority who supported and condoned torture, specifically water boarding, but they also wanted to know the truth.

Because it’s not all right.

According to Stanford University’s News Service, Condi plans to “reconnect with the academic policy communities,” something she claims to have been involved with for the “last 30 years.” That’s roughly the time in which the atmosphere on college campuses began to change. The targeting and purging of faculty on the Left and the shrinking or closing of Black, Red, Brown Studies departments in academia has stepped up since 9/11. Academia has the funding of Right-wing think tanks and Pentagon funding to protect, and in turn, these institutions control academic policy.

Condi will see to it that this academic policy continues.

How will your political experience translate into academic lessons, and how will you share what you’ve learned in Washington with the Stanford community?

I may not teach formal classes right away. But when I do, I hope to go back to teaching some of the courses on international politics, with a focus on decision-making and hard choices in decision-making. I taught a lot when I was at Stanford before by the use of decision simulations. I thought decision simulations pressed students really to think about not just the abstraction of policy but the actual operational questions and choices that you have to make.

Decision making? What? Would that mean students will learn to make snap-happy decisions—send troops in here, decimate the enemy over there—take action as if there are no consequences on the lives of millions of people and then fictionalizing the reasons and outcomes of those actions. Yes, “hard choices in decision making” will mean which tactics to continue to employ in order to finally achieve the goal of one corporate world under U.S. control. The young ones have to learn how the U.S. makes decisions about the lives of human beings, particularly when they get in the way or threaten to resist. This is the new faculty at the Hoover Institution!

Condi will go about collecting her memory of the Bush years and her service as Secretary of State. She’ll have good memories, of course. It’s her book, her story. “I would hope that it would be a book that tries to put the last eight years into a context that is more of an analytic framework.” Analytic framework? There will be anecdotes. I’m sure I’m going to tell some of the more interesting stories and discuss the characters I’ve met over the last eight years. I also, as an academic, will want to step back and really look at how the international system was impacted by the events of 9/11 and what new constraints and what new opportunities the United States faced as a result. I’m going to try to make this a book that’s analytic and not just storytelling.

“Analytical framework” means that 95 percent of you won’t be able to read my book, but it will sell because, well, I’m Condi Rice—and I have a story to tell for the historical record book!

Ninety-five percent of you will not know that with my writing I will determine what really happened and “how the international system was impacted by the events of 9/11.” After all, “I’m academic,” so I will influence and enlighten students about decision making. I will do so by dealing first with the historical account of my decisions and the decisions of the Bush administration. I will produce a text, a record of events, that generations will absorb and possess; the story of how an Empire fought the good battle against the evildoers in the world. But it won’t be simply “storytelling.” Oh, no. Analytical!

Work first and then play!

And criticism of you, Condi?

Criticism? Criticism is fine! “It’s perfectly legitimate to be critical of what’s been a complicated and sometimes controversial and always consequential last eight years.”

But—

People must listen first to “how we went about it.” “Criticism is natural.”

Really, now criticism is oh, so “natural.” Well, Condi’s ears should be ringing!

The criticism is so “natural” that media didn’t bother to tell the American public that there is opposition to the arrival of Condi Rice at Stanford University. For Majorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild, student and faculty activists at Stanford University, Condi Rice is not welcome.

This group of ex-VietNam protesters (Stanford alumni), current student and faculty members nailed the following petition on the campus president’s office door:

We, the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other concerned members of the Stanford community, believe that high officials of the U.S. Government, including our former Provost, current Political Science Professor, and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Condoleezza Rice, should be held accountable for any serious violations of the Law (included ratified treaties, statutes, and/or the U.S. Constitution) through investigation and, if the facts warrant, prosecution, by appropriate legal authorities.

The activists consider Condi Rice’s presence at Stanford criminal.

Writing in The Huffington Post, May 8, 2009, Cohn cites “the law and evidence of Condoleezza Rice’s responsibility for war crimes — including torture — and for selling the illegal Iraq War.”

To be sure, Condoleezza Rice is not the only Black American to turn her back on the liberation of human beings from tyranny to become an active participant in white supremacy. She isn’t the only Bush war-and-torture alumni to return to the halls of higher education without a challenge by administrators. Academia has sold its soul long ago. Truth is dangerous there—in this era of right is might! And unless concerned students and faculty at Stanford University and at every college and university don’t stand up to end to the corruption of knowledge, we will see many more Condi Rices on telescreens, holding up their books, and proclaiming victory over the zombies.

From the Washington Post

Days after telling students at Stanford University that waterboarding was legal “by definition if it was authorized by the president,” former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was pressed again on the subject yesterday by a fourth-grader at a Washington school.

Then Misha Lerner, a student from Bethesda, asked: What did Rice think about the things President Obama’s administration was saying about the methods the Bush administration had used to get information from detainees?

Rice took the question in stride. saying that she was reluctant to criticize Obama, then getting to the heart of the matter.

“Let me just say that President Bush was very clear that he wanted to do everything he could to protect the country. After September 11, we wanted to protect the country,” she said. “But he was also very clear that we would do nothing, nothing, that was against the law or against our obligations internationally. So the president was only willing to authorize policies that were legal in order to protect the country.”

Watch the Video

Watch Olbermann Take on Condoleezza Rice and Torture

Read the Whole Story

Check Out A Gallery of U.S. Torture in the Bush Era  (Warning Images Are Explicit)

In this video, Cenk from the Young Turks shows some footage of Condoleezza Rice arguing with Stanford students who were confronting her about torture. He compares her argument to that of Nixon’s who famously said “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.”

Rice said “The United States was told, we were told, nothing that violates our obligations under the Convention Against Torture, and so by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture.”

Read Cenk’s Huffington Post Blog

Watch the Video

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From TheHill.com:

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is charging the same fee — $150,000 — per speech as does former President George W. Bush.

So, as Bush emerges again into the public eye — he threw out the first pitch of the season at the Texas Rangers’ home opener — he’s finding that he’s not the biggest star of his own administration.

Click here for more.

On the Jay Leno show last night, Condoleezza Rice, distanced herself from right wing critics of Barack Obama such as Dick Cheney. She said “owe them our loyalty and our silence.” She also said

“My view is we got to do it our way; we did our best. We did some things well, some things not so well. Now, they get their chance. And I agree with the president. We owe them our loyalty and our silence while they do it. Because I know what it’s like to have people chirping at you when they perhaps don’t know what’s going on inside. These are quality people. I know them. They love the country. And they won’t make the same decisions, perhaps, that we did. But I believe they’ll do what they think is best for the country and I’ll give my advice privately and keep it to myself.”

Watch Condoleeezza Rice on Leno

According to the New York Daily News, Will Ferrell’s Broadway play, You’re Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush, features a segment in which George Bush receives a lapdance from Condoleezza Rice.

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Watch Will Ferrell Preview His New Play

From Michael Fleming at Variety.com:

Hours after the inauguration of President Barack Obama, outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed with WMA to pursue opportunities that will likely include books and lectures.

Click here for the full report.

The Kennedy Center awards were presented Saturday night at a State Department dinner. Rice addressed each honoree, beginning with Freeman, who once played the president in the movie “Deep Impact.”

“I know that when you played the African-American president of the United States, most people thought that would happen when a comet hit,” Rice said, drawing laughs and cheers. “But wonder of wonders, fiction has become true.”

Freeman, 71, who starred this year in “The Dark Knight,” also made headlines after suffering broken bones in a Mississippi car crash in August. The Oscar-winning actor said he was still recovering from nerve damage in his left hand and wore a glove to control the swelling.

Denzel Washington and Clint Eastwood testified to their success working with Freeman.

“You’re a great good luck charm,” said Eastwood, a 2000 honoree. “Everything you touch is fine by me.”

For Tharp’s presentation, actress Lily Tomlin said Tharp sees dance everywhere she looks: “This is a woman who saw the Beach Boys and made a ballet.”

Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser, who worked with Tharp at the American Ballet Theater, said Tharp taught him “the difference between making a ballet and making art.” Barbra Streisand got an awkward kiss on the cheek from the president, and yes, she gave him a smooch back.

Streisand, a vocal critic of President George W. Bush, was a guest Sunday at the White House just before one of Washington’s few A-list events: the Kennedy Center Honors.

“Art transcends politics this weekend,” the longtime Democrat said beforehand. Still, she said it would have been “lovely” if she could have received the award while President-elect Barack Obama was in office.

The singer and actress was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors, along with actor Morgan Freeman, country singer George Jones, dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp and musicians Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who.

The honors recognize individuals who helped define American culture through the performing arts, part of the living memorial to President John F. Kennedy.

The hug and kiss between Bush and Babs – who has previously said Bush’s election wins in 2000 and 2004 were stolen – was replayed later on video at a Kennedy Center gala. The crowd couldn’t help but laugh.

Queen Latifah opened the tribute to Streisand, saying she “threw out the rule book” to chart her own career. “She took to the stage like butter on a bagel,” Latifah added in a video tribute.

Idina Menzel from Broadway’s “Rent” and “Wicked” sang “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Streisand’s 1964 musical “Funny Girl.” She mixed in some new lyrics – “Hey there, Ms. Streisand, I am your biggest fan.”

Beyonce Knowles rose from the stage floor to sing “The Way We Were.” And the young musical star Ne-Yo grooved to Streisand’s 1965 hit “Lover, Come Back to Me,” with four male dancers.

“Barbra Streisand is the epitome of emotion in music,” Ne-Yo said. “You feel every word, that’s something that artists in my day and age don’t really pay attention to.”

Earlier, another set of stars paid tribute to The Who in front of a neon-lit backdrop of the Union Jack, in honor of the British band.

“The full impact of it is still sinking in,” Townshend said of the honor. “It feels a bit iconic.”

Rock singer Rob Thomas sang “Baba O’Riley,” and the British flag pulled away to reveal a choir of 150 New York policemen and firefighters singing the “teenage wasteland” chorus with Thomas under an American flag. They were thanking The Who for being the first musical group to sign on for an emotional Radio City Music Hall benefit concert after 9/11.

Jones, who earned the nickname “No Show Jones” for performances he missed during his wild drinking days, promised to show up this time. The 77-year-old said “I’m in a daze” about being an honoree.

First lady Laura Bush took the stage to salute Jones, saying “there’s no getting tired of a singer like him.” Jones is a favorite on the president’s iPod, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Garth Brooks, Randy Travis and Alan Jackson gave Jones a tip of the hat with performances of the country legend’s work. And fellow country singer Shelby Lynne sang “Amazing Grace.”

Tickets to the gala sell for as much as $4,000. Last year, the event raised $5 million to support Kennedy Center programs. The show will air Dec. 30 on CBS.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that it is “well past time” for Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe to leave office as evidenced by the nation’s calamitous cholera epidemic and health care crisis.

Rice said the country experienced “a sham election,” followed by a sham sharing of power. Speaking in the Danish capital Friday, she said the current outbreak of cholera in the country should be a sign to the international community that it is time to stand up to Mugabe.

“If this is not evidence to the international community to stand up for what is right, I don’t know what would be. And frankly the nations of the region have to do it,” she said. The nations in southern Africa have the most to lose and need to take the lead, she said.

Zimbabwe declared a national emergency over a cholera epidemic and the collapse of its health care system, and state media reported Thursday the government is seeking more international help to pay for food and drugs to combat the crisis.

“It’s well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave, that’s now obvious,” she said. “There has been a sham election, there was a sham power-sharing. We are now seeing the humanitarian toll.”

Rice said “we are seeing not only the political and economic toll that is being taken on the people of Zimbabwe but the toll in the humanitarian dimension as the cholera epidemic has broken out. It is time for the international nations to push Mr. Mugabe out.”

She said the United States “will always do anything and everything it can to help innocent people who are suffering. We are not going to deny assistance to people who are in need because of Mugabe.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development has said it would provide an additional $600,000 to help combat the cholera outbreak. This assistance is in addition to the $4 million water, sanitation, and hygiene emergency program USAID is already implementing in Zimbabwe.

The failure of the southern African nation’s health care system is one of the most devastating effects of the country’s overall economic collapse.

Facing the highest inflation in the world, Zimbabweans are struggling just to eat and find clean drinking water. The United Nations says the number of suspected cholera cases in Zimbabwe since August has climbed above 12,600, with 570 deaths, because of a lack of water treatment and broken sewage pipes. Besides shortages of food and other basics, even cash is scarce.

Cholera is an infectious intestinal disease that is contracted by consuming contaminated food or water. Its symptoms include severe diarrhea.

Rice’s comments on Zimbabwe came during an appearance with Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Rice is making a tour of various cities overseas as her tour in the job of secretary of state comes to a close.

Rice expressed “deep regret” for the deaths of two Danish soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday, adding that nothing of value is won without sacrifice. “Afghanistan must never be allowed again to be a safe haven for terrorists,” Rice said. She said a review being done by the Bush administration and its NATO allies of the mission in Afghanistan is nearly complete.

“It is under way. It is, very frankly, almost completed,” she said. “It is being reviewed by the principals of the National Security Council and it is going to be discussed with our friends. And at that point I expect that some elements of it will be made public in some way.”

Some have called for more troops in Afghanistan, a sentiment backed Friday by Danish leader Fogh Rasmussen.

“We have to make sure that the mission will be a success,” he said. We must prevail and we need more troops.”

From UK’s Telegraph:

She has been in contact with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in recent days to ease tensions between the nuclear states, and this is expected to be a dominant theme in her meetings with Indian officials.

Earlier, Mr Bush called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to again offer US support and condolences for the victims and their families of the attacks, which claimed the lives of nearly 200 people and injured scores more.

Five Americans were killed in the attacks in which gunmen stormed Mumbai’s top luxury hotels, its biggest railway station, a Jewish center, and several other sites in the financial capital.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Ms Rice decided to “modify” her European trip, cutting out meetings in Rome to go personally to India.

“We thought it was important to take this moment to travel to Delhi to express the condolences of the U.S. people directly to the government of India and its people and to hold face-to-face meetings,” Mr McCormack said.

“It is very sad that India has experienced this level of terrorism. There will be discussions about how to move forward.”