Forbes ranked her as the most powerful woman in the world in 2004 and 2005, but she fell to second place in 2006 when she was outranked by Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany. [1]

Polls taken shortly before the mid-term elections indicated she has the highest public approval and favorable opinion ratings of anyone in the Bush administration. [2]

This morning an article stated "Cheney is seen as a key architect of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, along with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld..." [3]

Obviously a true statement - most Americans feel that Cheney and Rumsfeld, along with President Bush, are responsible for the Iraq disaster, but aren't we bypassing a very important figure while playing the blame game?

Condoleezza Rice made history on December 17, 2000, when picked to serve as the first woman National Security Advisor.

During the 911 Commission hearings most of us learned that, on an almost daily basis during the summer of 2001 Rice met with CIA Director, George Tenet, and on July 10, 2001 Director Tenet requested an emergency meeting to brief Rice and her staff on the possibility of a pending attack by Al Qaeda. Rice claimed she did not recall the meeting, but White House records later confirmed the meeting was, in fact held. [4]

When Iraq delivered its 12,200-page declaration on Weapons of Mass Destruction to the United Nations on December 8, 2002, it only took Condoleezza Rice until January 23, 2003, about six weeks, to determine the 12,200 page report was a 'lie', and she brought it the attention of the world by writing an editorial published in the New York Times [5]

Doesn't it seem peculiar that the same person unable to 'recall' an emergency meeting regarding a pending attack by Al Qaeda [that subsequently took place on September 11, 2001], is able to read 12,200 pages of material in six weeks and determine it's all a lie?

In 1990 Rice was named special assistant to President George H.W. Bush for national security affairs. Historically, George W. Bush has relied on his fathers advisors and Condoleezza Rice is no exception. When Bush went on the presidential campaign trail in 2000, Condoleezza Rice took a one-year leave of absence from Stanford so she could work as his foreign policy advisor.

Pacific Coast Oil Company became Standard Oil Company of California which then became Chevron Corporation Texas Fuel Company later became The Texas Co. and eventually became Texaco Inc. In 2001 Texaco Inc. and Chevron Corp. merged to become ChevronTexaco and the name was subsequently changed to Chevron in 2005. In 2005 Chevron acquired Unocal and is now one of the largest oil energy companies in the world, operating in 180 countries.

On January 15, 2001 Rice resigned as head of Chevron's committee on public policy, to become National Security Advisor. She had been a member of Chevron's board of directors since 1991 and obviously has more than a subtle interest in world oil affairs.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that once the Iraqi oil fields are developed Iraq will replace Saudi Arabi as number one in oil reserves.

Rice has such deep-seeded roots in the oil industry that an oil tanker Condoleezza Rice was named after her, but the name was subsequently changed to Altair Voyager due to the controversary. [6] The Altair Voyager although owned by CalPetro Tankers in the Bahama's is still operated by Chevron [7]

Senator Evan Bayh, was one of many, who opposing the nomination of Condoleezza Rice to Secretary of State stating the following at the Senate nomination hearings [8]

"I rise to express my opposition to the nomination of Condoleezza Rice and her proposed promotion to that of the position of Secretary of State--not because I object to her personally; I do not; not because I oppose the mission of establishing freedom and democracy in Iraq; on the contrary, I support it; but because I believe she has been a principal architect of policy errors that have tragically undermined our prospects for success in this endeavor."

While the person that consistently advocated the war in Iraq, has been totally outspoken in her support of the war, and is the person President Bush considers his "most trusted" foreign policy advisor readies herself for a possible 2008 presidential run, the American public led a Republican sheep to slaughter and Donald Rumsfeld is his name.

Condoleezza Rice may be considered one of the most powerful women in the world, and she may be favored by the American public, but she is also someone that could conceivably set the cogs in motion for World War III.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/11/06women_The-100-Most-Powerful-Women_Rank.html

[2] http://pollingreport.com/P-Z.htm#Rice

[3] click here

[4] click here

[5] http://usinfo.state.gov/mena/Archive/2004/Feb/12-779967.html

[6] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/05/05/MN223743.DTL

[7] http://www.e-vrp.com/Vessel_Details.asp?VesselID=33306&PlanNum=793

[8] http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r109:./temp/~r109X6udMf