A little truth seeps out of Condi Rice

In this article about US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice's trip to Chile to endorse the new socialist president, Rice said:

"'We're looking at the issues concerning those situations in which we may have in a sense ... (been) shooting ourselves in the foot,' she said."

Now don't get your hopes up. All she was talking about was that she might recommend to her bosses, Mr. Other Priorities and Rummy, that the US agree to provide economic and military aid to Chile even though Chile has signed on to the International Criminal Court sponsored through the United Nations. Here is what preceded Rice's quote:

"Bolivia and Brazil are among 12 Latin American nations that have lost U.S. military aid or training because of their stance on the International Criminal Court. Chile stands to lose aid this year unless it receives a waiver from Bush.

"The United States insists that nations signing up for the Hague court exempt U.S. citizens from its reach. More than 100 countries have signed the immunity agreements covering U.S. citizens on their soil, but many others have refused.

"Rice said Friday the policy may be shortsighted in some cases."

Since that particular policy is considered by Rice to be "shooting ourselves in the foot," the Terrible President's administration's screw ups in dealing with Iraq, Bolivia, Venezuela, India, Pakistan, the UAE, the Sudan, and other places must mean the administration is shooting itself in other more vital body parts.

Final comment: In the Associated Press article linked to above, it has this classic example of an elite/administration talking point posing as a fact. The article states that the new Chilean president "is expected to continue the free-market policies of her predecessor." No context is provided as to what that means nor is the writer honest enough to ask herself whether a phrase like "free market" is in reality a phrase of propaganda, not information.

Now, that talking point could end up being true in the sense that the government under this nominally socialist president could end up benefiting bankers more than workers, but here is a more balanced article about the new Chilean president from someone who most likely knows more about internal Chilean politics than the current and often deluded Secretary of State Rice. Yes, the writer's own bias or perhaps perspective is evident from the organization he works for, but at least he is providing information and context to his statements and analysis. The AP writer had no business writing that line in the article without context or quotes around "free market", which is in fact a propaganda phrase that interferes with thoughtful analysis of how government policies affect, influence, and control "markets."