Obama Picks Susan Rice For The UN

In Obama news today comes his pick for the UN, which he now will make into a cabinet position because we all know just how important the United Nations is right?

President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his foreign policy adviser, Susan E. Rice, to be ambassador to the United Nations, picking an advocate of “dramatic action” against genocide as he rounds out his national security team, Democrats close to the transition said Sunday.

Mr. Obama intends to announce Ms. Rice’s selection at a news conference here Monday along with his previously reported decisions to nominate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for secretary of state, keep Robert M. Gates as defense secretary and appoint Gen. James L. Jones, a retired Marine commandant, his national security adviser, the Democrats said.

The choice of Ms. Rice to represent the United States before the United Nations will make her one of the most visible faces of the Obama administration to the outside world aside from Mrs. Clinton. It will also send to the world organization a prominent and forceful advocate of stronger action, including military force if necessary, to stop mass killings like those in the Darfur region of Sudan in recent years.

Yes, by all means she will be a forceful advocate of strong action when it comes to mass killings. Except of course if you support a early withdrawal of troops from Iraq, which would then lead to mass killings. That she would overlook because she supports The One. Here she is in December of 2007:

Having opposed the Iraq war from the start, Obama was the first major candidate to set forth a comprehensive plan to redeploy our forces safely and press Iraqis to achieve the necessary political progress. His Iraq War De-escalation Act introduced in January 2007 was embraced by the Senate Democratic leadership in the Senate and remains the basis for their primary legislative vehicle to end the war.

In September 2007, Obama elaborated his Iraq strategy, making clear that he would plan to withdraw combat forces at the responsible pace of one to two brigades a month, with the aim of having all of our combat brigades out within 16 months. Obama has been very specific about the means to achieve political reconciliation as well as the economic and humanitarian steps he would take to avert a worst-case scenario in Iraq and to build the kind of political consensus that’s essential to end the conflict. Obama was also very clear that he would leave no permanent bases in Iraq. To the extent that that there will be a need for a small residual presence for a period of time, it would be focused on protecting our embassy and our civilian operations, and on targeting al Qaeda operatives inside Iraq.

No problems supporting the withdrawal there, in fact she was a cheerleader for it even though the NIE said it would lead to a increase in sectarian violence:

Mr. Obama’s position on troop cuts was forged in late 2006 as Iraq appeared to be approaching a full-scale civil war. Drawing on the bipartisan Iraq Study Group report, he opposed Mr. Bush’s troop reinforcement plan and sponsored legislation in January 2007 that would have removed all American combat brigades by the end of March 2008, while allowing a small force to remain for training, counterterrorism and the protection of the American Embassy and its personnel.

At that time, American intelligence agencies warned in a national intelligence estimate that the removal of all American and allied forces within 18 months would “almost certainly” lead to a significant increase in sectarian fighting, suggesting that the speedy, if partial, withdrawal advocated by Mr. Obama would also risk a major increase in violence.

So mass killing in Darfur….bad. Mass killing in Iraq….eh, something to overlook. Why? Partisan politics. Bush was behind Iraq so let the Iraqi people fend for themselves.

She is a perfect fit for Obama as Michael Goldfarb points out:

The Times doesn’t mention it, but the title of that piece in the Atlantic: “Bystanders to Genocide.” Authored by Samantha Power, an Obama adviser and someone who actually has a record of backing strong action against mass killings, the story does not reflect well on Rice:

At an interagency teleconference in late April, Susan Rice, a rising star on the NSC who worked under Richard Clarke, stunned a few of the officials present when she asked, “If we use the word ‘genocide’ and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November [congressional] election?” Lieutenant Colonel Tony Marley remembers the incredulity of his colleagues at the State Department. “We could believe that people would wonder that,” he says, “but not that they would actually voice it.” Rice does not recall the incident but concedes, “If I said it, it was completely inappropriate, as well as irrelevant.”

If one believes that the United Nations is a hopelessly ineffective institution and wants to make sure it stays that way, then perhaps Obama has chosen an appropriate emissary: a woman who prefers to ponder the political implications of inaction — they’re going to love her at Turtle Bay.

Meanwhile, as the first article quoted said, Hillary will be his pick for SecState even though it is forbidden by the Constitution.

And finally, check out the video of his presser. A reporter brought up the fact that he didn’t think to highly of Hillary’s foreign policy experience a few months ago and he responds with a “it’s all just words” excuse. He didn’t really mean it you see:

Yeah, its all the media’s fault for bringing up his quote. I mean how dare they!

Curt

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