SECRETARY RICE: I think this woman, this woman all the way in the back.
QUESTION (Via interpreter): Don't you think that this an interference in the Iraqi affair in determining its fate, then especially that Iraq is supposed to be sovereign and this is against the principles of democracy?
SECRETARY RICE: "Okay. The question was whether or not this is interference in Iraqi affairs. Iraq is sovereign. And is it also -- is it democratic to do this, I guess, is the way to put it.
That process has now resulted in the election of responsible and representative leaders for the Iraqi people. And all we're saying is that the Iraqi people and, indeed, the international community which has supported the Iraqi people, needs to see that process of government formation come to an end. Again, it is not our job to determine who will do that. But as the Secretary said yesterday, we should not say and will not say who the prime minister of Iraq should be, who the president of Iraq should be, who the speaker should be. But that there must be -- and soon -- responsible leaders in those positions is something that I think the international community has a right to expect."
The U.S. is in a hurry. The Bush regime is signaling their impatience with their illegitimate Iraqi children, their junta, for their reluctance to elevate a leader of their puppet authority to a position of dominance over all of the disparate factions in Iraq.
Bush himself joined his Secretary of State in the goading, chiding them "to stand up and do their job ." But, he doesn't really believe that democracy can be rushed. Neither do the folks around him.
"We must remember building a democracy takes time ," First Lady Laura Bush said during the last election.
"The president is inspired by the actions of the Iraqis who went out to vote and the thousands who are protesting in Lebanon," White House communications director Nicolle Devenish said. ''But he certainly has a long view and understands that democracy takes its time and winds its way through these places."
In another reference, apparently to the new regime in Iraq, Bush said that finding the full promise of representative democracy takes time , and freedom is finding its way into both Iraq and Afghanistan. "We must continue to show our commitment to democracy in those nations," Bush said.
"I fully understand it takes time for free societies, truly free societies to evolve. I don't expect instant success."
"Democracy takes time and with this election, no one expects to be perfect," White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said.
However, "we must remember that building the institutions of a thriving democracy takes time," Rice cautioned.
Building democracy takes a long time , Rice said.
SECRETARY RICE: Right. Well, this is hard; and I think that everybody knows that the American people have been asked to support a complex and difficult task in trying to help the Iraqis in overthrowing a dictator, then to create a viable and united and democratically -- democratically based state. This is hard work. And it is work that requires that we, as Americans, reach down in ourselves and look for the kind of patience and generosity that we have exhibited in the past in understanding that democracy takes time.
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