"Lying in State" - Commentary by Tony Seton

Lying in State

Condoleezza Rice will be the next Secretary of State of our United States and it won’t be just because she’s a black woman, though that two-fer has served her well for many years. Her promotion comes because she served flawlessly as our nation’s National Security Advisor; flawlessly in the political sense. She bent the truth into a pretzel on so many occasions it’s a wonder she could walk upright into her confirmation hearings.

Had Rice been a woman of honor, she never would have worked for Bush. The fact that she lasted through the first term is evidence of her unflagging willingness to sacrifice her reputation -- and our country -- on the altar of facts. She smeared administration colleagues who actually told the truth. She ardently cheer-led the invasion of Iraq, hinting darkly that if we didn’t stop Saddam, he would attack us with nuclear weapons. She shares the responsibility for the deaths of more than a hundred thousand people.

It was certainly no surprise that she continued to spew her lies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that was supposed to vet her on behalf of the American people. Insisting that there had always been enough troops and logistical support, Rice seemed almost thrilled with the way U.S. troops had swept up to Baghdad.

Rice was shameless in her prevarication. Following up on her president’s bold-faced deception during the debate last fall that a hundred thousand Iraqi troops had been trained, she upped the figure to 120,000. Joe Biden called it "malarkey" saying that our own military put the actual number at closer to 4,000.

Of course, the truth doesn’t matter. It hasn’t for years. There were no WMDs in Iraq and hadn’t been for years. There was no link to Al Qaeda and never had been. There was no threat to the U.S. and never had been. But the committee approved her by a vote of 16-to-2 with only Barbara Boxer and John Kerry voting against. It speaks notoriously ill of those who voted for her, ratifying the murderous record of deceit.

The Senate will approve Rice. She will be our international coquette, less obstreperous than the current whore. Adhering Nazi-like to the policies dictated by Premier Cheney, she will besmirch America’s legacy and our future before the world. We can only hope that some day history will tell the truth.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.