In the NY Times on Feb 15 : here is a good move this time from Rice.
QUOTE
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a Senate panel Wednesday in Washington that she planned to ask for $75 million to promote democracy in Iran, but she met with sharp questioning from Democrats about whether Bush administration policies were promoting the rise of anti-American governments around the world.
Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the money for Iran, on top of $10 million already provided in the current budget, would be used to “support the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people,” and to counter the influence of Tehran’s new hard-line regime.
“No one wants to see a Middle East that is dominated by an Iranian hegemony, particularly one that has access to nuclear technology,” Rice said, and she later called Iran “our biggest single strategic challenge” in the region.
She said in her prepared statement that the extra $75 million “would enable us to increase our support for democracy and improve our radio broadcasting, begin satellite television broadcast, increase the contacts between our peoples through expanded fellowships and scholarships for Iranian students, and to bolster our public democracy efforts.”
The bulk of the money, $50 million, would go toward establishing a round-the-clock television broadcast into Iran in Persian, according to a State Department official, along with improvements to radio and satellite broadcasting.
“The regime’s policies are risking the total isolation of Iran, and the people of Iran shouldn’t suffer from that,” Rice told the Senate panel.
Rice and other members of the administration have stepped up their criticism of Iran in recent weeks, pressing for United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program and blaming the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for fomenting violent protests over the publication of satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
But the focus on Iran on Wednesday also reflected a sense that its standing has grown as the region has changed in recent years, with a friendly Shiite-dominated government preparing to take office in Iraq, Hamas winning elections for the Palestinian Parliament and radical groups like Hezbollah and the Egyptian Brotherhood making gains in votes in Lebanon and Egypt.
Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the panel’s top Democrat, said that any sanctions on Iran that included an embargo on purchases of its oil “would have a dramatic, dramatic negative impact.”
Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, called Iran “the most powerful country in the Middle East” and “the most difficult.” He noted that the Iranians have the American military at their doorstep in Iraq and Afghanistan and that there are countries in the region - Israel, India and Pakistan - that have nuclear weapons.
Hagel praised the administration for working closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency in seeking to rein in the Iranian’s nuclear program, saying it was a change from the dismissive attitude that prevailed before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“I hope we are now past the Chalabi days of relying on that crowd or that kind of policy,” he said, referring to Ahmad Chalabi, the former Iranian exile leader whose group provided much of the information about Iraqi programs to develop weapons of mass destruction that was later found to be false.
In response, Rice said that “Iran is pursuing policies in the Middle East that are, if not 180, 170 degrees counter to the kind of Middle East that we would build.”
But she said that she “would not overstate Iranian influence, by recognizing that it is diluted by a number of other forces and factors that are deeply suspicious of Iranian influence and Iranian power.”
Rice said that harsh comments by Ahmadinejad since taking office last summer have “crystallized the concerns of the international community, because he speaks in blunter ways about Iranian ambitions than did prior Iranian governments.”
She acknowledged that Iran was likely to have close ties with the new, Shiite-dominated government of Iraq, but said she would be traveling to the Gulf region to talk with leaders there about countering Iranian influence.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a Senate panel Wednesday in Washington that she planned to ask for $75 million to promote democracy in Iran, but she met with sharp questioning from Democrats about whether Bush administration policies were promoting the rise of anti-American governments around the world.
Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the money for Iran, on top of $10 million already provided in the current budget, would be used to “support the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people,” and to counter the influence of Tehran’s new hard-line regime.
“No one wants to see a Middle East that is dominated by an Iranian hegemony, particularly one that has access to nuclear technology,” Rice said, and she later called Iran “our biggest single strategic challenge” in the region.
She said in her prepared statement that the extra $75 million “would enable us to increase our support for democracy and improve our radio broadcasting, begin satellite television broadcast, increase the contacts between our peoples through expanded fellowships and scholarships for Iranian students, and to bolster our public democracy efforts.”
The bulk of the money, $50 million, would go toward establishing a round-the-clock television broadcast into Iran in Persian, according to a State Department official, along with improvements to radio and satellite broadcasting.
“The regime’s policies are risking the total isolation of Iran, and the people of Iran shouldn’t suffer from that,” Rice told the Senate panel.
Rice and other members of the administration have stepped up their criticism of Iran in recent weeks, pressing for United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program and blaming the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for fomenting violent protests over the publication of satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
But the focus on Iran on Wednesday also reflected a sense that its standing has grown as the region has changed in recent years, with a friendly Shiite-dominated government preparing to take office in Iraq, Hamas winning elections for the Palestinian Parliament and radical groups like Hezbollah and the Egyptian Brotherhood making gains in votes in Lebanon and Egypt.
Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the panel’s top Democrat, said that any sanctions on Iran that included an embargo on purchases of its oil “would have a dramatic, dramatic negative impact.”
Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, called Iran “the most powerful country in the Middle East” and “the most difficult.” He noted that the Iranians have the American military at their doorstep in Iraq and Afghanistan and that there are countries in the region - Israel, India and Pakistan - that have nuclear weapons.
Hagel praised the administration for working closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency in seeking to rein in the Iranian’s nuclear program, saying it was a change from the dismissive attitude that prevailed before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“I hope we are now past the Chalabi days of relying on that crowd or that kind of policy,” he said, referring to Ahmad Chalabi, the former Iranian exile leader whose group provided much of the information about Iraqi programs to develop weapons of mass destruction that was later found to be false.
In response, Rice said that “Iran is pursuing policies in the Middle East that are, if not 180, 170 degrees counter to the kind of Middle East that we would build.”
But she said that she “would not overstate Iranian influence, by recognizing that it is diluted by a number of other forces and factors that are deeply suspicious of Iranian influence and Iranian power.”
Rice said that harsh comments by Ahmadinejad since taking office last summer have “crystallized the concerns of the international community, because he speaks in blunter ways about Iranian ambitions than did prior Iranian governments.”
She acknowledged that Iran was likely to have close ties with the new, Shiite-dominated government of Iraq, but said she would be traveling to the Gulf region to talk with leaders there about countering Iranian influence.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a Senate panel Wednesday in Washington that she planned to ask for $75 million to promote democracy in Iran, but she met with sharp questioning from Democrats about whether Bush administration policies were promoting the rise of anti-American governments around the world.
Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the money for Iran, on top of $10 million already provided in the current budget, would be used to “support the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people,” and to counter the influence of Tehran’s new hard-line regime.
“No one wants to see a Middle East that is dominated by an Iranian hegemony, particularly one that has access to nuclear technology,” Rice said, and she later called Iran “our biggest single strategic challenge” in the region.
She said in her prepared statement that the extra $75 million “would enable us to increase our support for democracy and improve our radio broadcasting, begin satellite television broadcast, increase the contacts between our peoples through expanded fellowships and scholarships for Iranian students, and to bolster our public democracy efforts.”
The bulk of the money, $50 million, would go toward establishing a round-the-clock television broadcast into Iran in Persian, according to a State Department official, along with improvements to radio and satellite broadcasting
UNQUOTE
I m more confident that Iran is more ready for a democracy. People (and women) are educated (highly educated even).
A minority only is really backing their president.
So good move from Rice to encourage the Iranian from the inside. I would have hoped they could have done their own revolution.
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Yeah, I know, but…
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