"(In her first year serving as Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping on Clinton's National Security Council), at the time of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Susan Rice reportedly said, 'If we use the word 'genocide' and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November [congressional] election?'"Rice supported the multinational force that invaded Zaire from Rwanda in 1996 and overthrew dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, saying privately that 'Anything's better than Mobutu.' Others criticized the U.S. complicity in the violation of the Congo's borders as destabilizing and dangerous. ...
"On December 1, 2008, Rice was nominated by President-elect Obama to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a position which he also upgraded to cabinet level. Rice is the second youngest and first African American woman U.S. Representative to the UN. ...
"In light of the 2011 Libyan civil war, Ambassador Rice gave a statement following a White House meeting with President Obama and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the United States increased pressure on the Libyan leader to give up power. Rice made clear that the United States and the international community saw only one choice for Gaddafi and his aides: step down from power or face significant consequences. ...
"On 17 March 2011 Rice voted for United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 which sanctioned a Libyan no-fly zone.... Rice and Clinton played major roles in getting the Security Council to approve this resolution; Clinton said that same day that establishing a no-fly zone over Libya would require the bombing of air defenses. ...
"On March 29, 2011, Rice said that the Obama administration had not ruled out arming the rebels fighting to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. In an interview on ABC's 'Good Morning America' program, Rice said there was no indication that Gaddafi was prepared to leave power without continued pressure from the International community.
"Referring to reports that members of Gaddafi's inner circle were reaching out to the West, she said: 'We will be more persuaded by actions rather than prospects or feelers. ... The message for Gaddafi and those closest to him is that history is not on their side. Time is not on their side. The pressure is mounting.'
"In January 2012 after the Russian and Chinese veto of a UNSC resolution, Rice strongly condemned both countries for vetoing a resolution calling on (Syria's ruler) Bashar al-Assad to step down. 'They put a stake in the heart of efforts to resolve this conflict peacefully,' Rice said on CNN. 'The tragedy is for the people of Syria. We the United States are standing with the people of Syria. Russia and China are obviously with Assad.' She added that 'Russia and China will, I think, come to regret this action. They have ... by their veto dramatically increased the risk of greater violence, and you've seen manifestations of that.'
"In her words, 'the United States is disgusted that a couple of members of this Council continue to prevent us from fulfilling our sole purpose.'"
Samantha Power: Samantha Power is aptly named. As Special Assistant to President Obama running the Office of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights on the President's National Security Council, she is the architect of the concept of "humanitarian war" and of the "Responsibility to Protect (R2P)" which she recently parlayed into being named the new chair of Obama's "Atrocity Prevention Board."
Power got her start as a journalist in the Yugoslav Wars, lamenting that U.S.-NATO bombing did not begin sooner. She became a fan of General Wesley Clark and worked on his subsequent presidential bid.
Afterward she became a "foreign policy fellow" for Sen. Obama and continued to work for his presidential campaign for a time as his senior foreign policy advisor.
Power is a fan of U.S. military intervention and General David Petraeus' counter-insurgency manual. [See Chase Madar's prescient (2009) description in "Samantha Power and the Weaponization of Human Rights":
"Power's faith in the therapeutic possibilities of military force was formed by her experience as a correspondent in the Balkans, whose wars throughout the '90s she seems to view as the alpha and omega of ethnic conflict, indeed of all genocide. For her, NATO's bombing of Belgrade in 1999 was a stunning success that 'likely saved hundreds of thousands of lives' in Kosovo."Yet this assertion seems to crumble a little more each year: estimates of the number of Kosovars slain by the province's Serb minority have shrunk from 100,000 to at most 5,000. And it is far from clear whether NATO's air strikes prevented more killing or intensified the bloodshed.
"Even so, it is the NATO attack on Belgrade -- including civilian targets, which Amnesty International has recently, belatedly, deemed a war crime -- that informs Power's belief that the U.S. military possesses nearly unlimited capability to save civilians by means of aerial bombardment, and all we need is the courage to launch the sorties."
Samantha Power is widely reported to "have Obama's ear" and be the key figure (who along with Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton) overcame the objections of Defense Secretary Gates and other national security men, persuading Obama to intervene militarily in Libya. For critiques at the time from the far left AND from the far right, see: Tom Hayden's "Samantha Power Goes to War" and "Samantha Power's Power" by Stanley Kurtz in the National Review.com.
Most Powerful Women Club
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