Condi not travelling well

Condi Rice was said to be an "expert" and specialist on the Soviet Union. Of course, now, her "brief" is a much bigger one - and one in which she is increasingly being shown to be bereft of the skills of a diplomat, and knowledgeable, on the world stage.

It nows appears that US legislators, both Republican and Democrat, aren't too happy with Condi, as this piece in the NY Times [reproduced in the IHT] shows:

"For six years, first as national security adviser and then as secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice worked under the cover of a very effective shield: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was during that time the administration's lightning rod for criticism over its handling of Iraq.

But in recent weeks, with Rumsfeld gone, Rice has faced increased, and somewhat unfamiliar, criticism. At a Senate hearing on Jan. 11, she confronted a wall of opposition from Republicans as well as Democrats. During three days of hearings last week on Iraq, several of her predecessors were pointed in their disapproval of her job performance."

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