Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? Message Board

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Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate?

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To: Peter Dierks who wrote (5980)	2/15/2006 2:54:47 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	of 9838

Rice: $75 million sought to spur democracy in Iran Wednesday, February 15, 2006; Posted: 11:44 a.m. EST (16:44 GMT) WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Bush wants $75 million to try to spur democracy in its adversary Iran, expanding a program that skeptics say can have little effect in the Islamic republic. "The United States will actively confront the aggressive policies of the Iranian regime. At the same time, we will work to support the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom and democracy in their country," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a congressional budget hearing. Rice said the funds would be used to broadcast U.S. radio and television programs into Iran and pay for Iranians to study in America. She requested the money in a supplemental budget request for fiscal year 2006. Congress has already approved $10 million for such programs for the year, which begins October 1. Political analysts and Western diplomats are skeptical U.S. efforts to reach out to Iranians can work in a country where America is labeled the "Great Satan" and believed to be anti-Muslim, particularly because of a perception it favors Israelis over Palestinians. The United States, which cut diplomatic ties with Iran after its 1979 revolution, is locked in a standoff with the Islamic republic to curb what it suspects are programs to build a nuclear bomb. But the Bush administration has emphasized in recent weeks that it is not at odds with the people of Iran and said it wants to help them win freedoms from their government. Nuclear clash At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rice said the Iranian government had increasingly isolated itself by pursuing nuclear programs. "They have now crossed a point where they are in open defiance" of the international community, she said Wednesday. She told the committee the Bush administration has been examining the "full range of sanctions on Iran" and is also considering additional sanctions the United States could impose on its own, although international action would be more effective. Appearing before lawmakers, Rice gave no details. The United States has had broad sanctions on Iran since that country's 1979 Islamic revolution. Iran says its nuclear programs are for peaceful electricity generation. Rice said she will visit the Gulf region next week to discuss Iran's nuclear programs with Tehran's Arab neighbors. She did not specify which countries she will visit. A U.S. official has said Rice is expected to visit Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and discuss the election victory of the Palestinian group Hamas and Muslim outrage at cartoons satirizing Prophet Mohammad.

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