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Susan Rice's Imperial Credentials
She disgraces legitimate governance.
by Stephen Lendman
She's favored to replace Hillary Clinton next year as secretary of state. Obama calls her "extraordinary." She matches the current incumbent's bullying, bluster and arrogance.
Both deplore peace, nonviolence and social justice. They're pro-war, contemptuous of rule of law principles, and brazenly anti-democratic.
They represent wrong over right. They're war criminals multiple times over. They're indifferent to human suffering. They disgrace America and humanity.
A December 1 Alaska Dispatch headline asked, "What's so wrong with Susan Rice's bid for Secretary of State?" Christian Science Monitor contributor Brad Knickerbocker's article followed, saying:
If Obama nominates her as many expect, she'll already "have undergone a blistering public vetting." Perhaps so, but for lots of the wrong reasons.
On November 30, Washington Post contributor Chris Cillizza asked, "Who had the worst week in Washington?" Susan Rice topped the list. Again for the wrong reasons.
Her abrasiveness doesn't help. She gives diplomacy a bad name. She's an embarrassment to legitimate governance. She's one of America's worst ever envoys.
She's also one of Obama's richest cabinet members. He father owned a British Columbia lumber company. He husband is a former television producer. In 2009, they're net worth was estimated at between $23.5 and $43.5 million.
Wealth, of course, disqualifies no one from public office. A previous article said she has major unexplained conflicts of interest .
She and her husband own "at least $1.25 million worth of stock in four of Canada's eight leading oil producers." She has up to $600,000 equity in TransCanada Corp. It's building the environmentally destructive Keystone XL pipeline.
Her holdings also include up to $11.25 million in Royal Bank of Canada, as well as lesser equity in other Canadian financial institutions funding XL.
She has lots of explaining to do. And not just about questionable financial interests. More on that below.
From October 1997 to January 2001, she was Bill Clinton's Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. She supported Washington's imperial Afghan war. In February 2003, weeks before Iraq was attacked, she was asked about Colin Powell's infamous UN WMD speech.
