enhanced_deficit
05-03-2014, 03:28 PM
Although much of public attention is lately on SWC droneking, last freedom administration's actors/tools continue to make news:
Condi Rice cancels Rutgers speech after Iraq War protest Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had been invited to be a commencement speaker at Rutgers University. But faculty and student Iraq War protesters forced her to decline.
By Patrik Jonsson (http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Staff/Patrik-Jonsson), Staff writer / May 3, 2014
http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2014/0305-condi-rice-rutgers.jpg/18425429-1-eng-US/0305-condi-rice-rutgers.jpg_full_380.jpg (http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2014/0305-condi-rice-rutgers.jpg/18425429-1-eng-US/0305-condi-rice-rutgers.jpg_full_600.jpg)
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks at the California Republican Party 2014 Spring Convention in March. Rice has decided against delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University following protests by some faculty and students over her role in the Iraq War.
Ben Margot/AP
ATLANTA
After Rutgers University President Robert Barchi refused to rescind a commencement speech invitation to former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Ms. Rice said on Saturday that she won’t appear at Rutgers after all.
Related stories
“Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families,” Ms. Rice wrote in a Facebook post. “Rutgers’ invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time.”
Coming only a week after Attorney General Eric Holder cancelled at the last minute a contested speech at a police academy graduation, Rice’s decision to forego the appearance was gracious enough. But it also became an example of post-Iraq War polarization in US politics, where protesters are able to squelch esteemed Americans from speaking their piece.
RECOMMENDED: Condoleezza Rice plans new book – is it a prelude to a presidential run? (http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0322/Condoleezza-Rice-plans-new-book-is-it-a-prelude-to-a-presidential-run)
After the Rutgers faculty and anti-war activists berated the university administration for extending the invitation to Rice – referencing her “efforts to mislead the American people about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” – the elected student assembly voted 25-17 to welcome Rice to the campus.
On Friday, student anti-war demonstrators assailed university president Robert Barchi, complaining about treatment at protests and demanding once again that he pull the invitation. Dr. Barchi declined.
In an earlier statement to the university community, Barchi said that the university could not in good conscience cave to demands from those representing a particular political viewpoint.
“Free speech and academic freedom cannot be determined by any group,” Mr. Barchi wrote. “They cannot insist on consensus or popularity.”
To anti-war activists, Rice is both a practical player in the Iraq War (for one, she approved waterboarding techniques as national security adviser) and also a symbol of what they perceive as America’s immoral and deceitful entrée into a long and bloody war in the Middle East.
More than 4,000 US soldiers died in the war, which finally wound down in December 2011, when the last US troops left. The number of Iraqis who died is not exactly known, but Iraq War logs published by WikiLeaks counted 109,032 Iraqi military and civilian deaths from 2003 to 2009.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0503/Condi-Rice-cancels-Rutgers-speech-after-Iraq-War-protest
Condi Rice cancels Rutgers speech after Iraq War protest Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had been invited to be a commencement speaker at Rutgers University. But faculty and student Iraq War protesters forced her to decline.
By Patrik Jonsson (http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Staff/Patrik-Jonsson), Staff writer / May 3, 2014
http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2014/0305-condi-rice-rutgers.jpg/18425429-1-eng-US/0305-condi-rice-rutgers.jpg_full_380.jpg (http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2014/0305-condi-rice-rutgers.jpg/18425429-1-eng-US/0305-condi-rice-rutgers.jpg_full_600.jpg)
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks at the California Republican Party 2014 Spring Convention in March. Rice has decided against delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University following protests by some faculty and students over her role in the Iraq War.
Ben Margot/AP
ATLANTA
After Rutgers University President Robert Barchi refused to rescind a commencement speech invitation to former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Ms. Rice said on Saturday that she won’t appear at Rutgers after all.
Related stories
“Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families,” Ms. Rice wrote in a Facebook post. “Rutgers’ invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time.”
Coming only a week after Attorney General Eric Holder cancelled at the last minute a contested speech at a police academy graduation, Rice’s decision to forego the appearance was gracious enough. But it also became an example of post-Iraq War polarization in US politics, where protesters are able to squelch esteemed Americans from speaking their piece.
RECOMMENDED: Condoleezza Rice plans new book – is it a prelude to a presidential run? (http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2013/0322/Condoleezza-Rice-plans-new-book-is-it-a-prelude-to-a-presidential-run)
After the Rutgers faculty and anti-war activists berated the university administration for extending the invitation to Rice – referencing her “efforts to mislead the American people about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” – the elected student assembly voted 25-17 to welcome Rice to the campus.
On Friday, student anti-war demonstrators assailed university president Robert Barchi, complaining about treatment at protests and demanding once again that he pull the invitation. Dr. Barchi declined.
In an earlier statement to the university community, Barchi said that the university could not in good conscience cave to demands from those representing a particular political viewpoint.
“Free speech and academic freedom cannot be determined by any group,” Mr. Barchi wrote. “They cannot insist on consensus or popularity.”
To anti-war activists, Rice is both a practical player in the Iraq War (for one, she approved waterboarding techniques as national security adviser) and also a symbol of what they perceive as America’s immoral and deceitful entrée into a long and bloody war in the Middle East.
More than 4,000 US soldiers died in the war, which finally wound down in December 2011, when the last US troops left. The number of Iraqis who died is not exactly known, but Iraq War logs published by WikiLeaks counted 109,032 Iraqi military and civilian deaths from 2003 to 2009.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0503/Condi-Rice-cancels-Rutgers-speech-after-Iraq-War-protest