Speaking to an audience of more than 3,000 students, faculty and alumni, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that the United States must not waver in its current mission in the Middle East, emphasizing that Iraqi citizens are "on the path to success" but need the support of the international community.
"We have set out to help the people of the Middle East transform their societies," she said. "Now is not the time to falter or fade."
In her address, which comes amid declining public support for the war in Iraq, Rice painted a hopeful picture of the situation. She cited the written constitution and January elections as crucial steps toward democracy.
"For 60 years, we often thought that we could achieve stability without liberty in the Middle East," she said, echoing sentiments expressed earlier this summer in a key speech delivered in Cairo. "And ultimately, we got neither. Now, we must recognize, as we do in every other region of the world, that liberty and democracy are the only guarantees of true stability and lasting security."
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Students, community members protest visit Reaction to the speechRice was the keynote speaker for this weekend's 75th anniversary kickoff celebration for the Wilson School, which also features speeches tomorrow by Lt. Gen. David Petraeus GS '85 '87 and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff.
Earlier in the day, some students and community members participated in rallies outside Jadwin Gymnasium and in Palmer Square protesting the Bush administration. During the question-and-answer period of Rice's remarks, an older man started yelling at Rice and attempted to walk up to the stage. The man was removed from the auditorium, but later allowed to reenter, a Diplomatic Security agent said.
A University official said the man was believed to be Bob Bloom '51, who protested Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit last year.
A history of service
Following an introduction by President Tilghman and Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80, Rice took the stage, saying, "I am honored to be here today at Princeton. From George Kennan and John Foster Dulles, to George Shultz and James Baker, and of course, Woodrow Wilson, many renowned American statesmen have worn the orange and black." Shifting her attention to the present, Rice addressed the administration's reaction to Sept. 11, 2001. She stressed the need to view the attacks in the context of the environment that bred them.
"If you focus only on the attacks themselves and believe they were caused by 19 hijackers, supported by a network called al-Qaida, and operating from a failed state — Afghanistan — then our response can be limited," she said.
"But if you believe, as I do and as President Bush does, that the root cause of September 11th was the violent expression of a global extremist ideology, an ideology rooted in the oppression and despair of the modern Middle East, then we must speak to remove the source of this terror by transforming that troubled region," she continued. "If you believe as we do, then it cannot be denied that we are standing at an extraordinary moment in history.
To overcome the insurgents that threaten freedom and stability, Rice said, the United States must back democratic principles with "power in all its forms: political, and economic, and cultural, and moral, and yes, sometimes, military."
Cautioning that the path to peace will not be easy, Rice defended the need to stay the course. "If we quit now, we will abandon Iraq's democrats at their time of greatest need. We will embolden every enemy of liberty and democracy across the Middle East," she said. "We will destroy any chance that the people of this region have of building a future of hope and opportunity. And we will make America more vulnerable."
Rice recalled the wisdom of the statesmen of the Cold War era — Dean Acheson, George Marshall and President Truman — who established a lasting peace in Europe.
"If you are — as those great architects of the post-Cold War victory were — if you are true to your values, if you are certain of your values and if you act upon them with confidence and with strength, it is possible to have an outcome where democracy spreads and peace and liberty reign," she said.
"Because of the work that they did, it is hard to imagine war in Europe again. So it shall be also for the Middle East."
In her closing remarks, Slaughter praised Rice for not simply professing, but also practicing in government. Should she decide to return to academia, Slaughter added, the University and the Wilson School would welcome her.
— Includes reporting by Princetonian Senior Writer Chanakya Sethi.
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Transcript of Rice's address, including video feed Transcript of question-and-answer sessionRead More
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