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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47768)	2/8/2005 7:47:46 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

The status quo in the Arab world is unacceptable, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday before an audience in Paris. "The status quo is not going to be acceptable. You have large populations who are not receiving a proper education. You have 22 countries that have a GDP that is not the size of Spain’s. This is not acceptable. How can this be?" she said. "The freedom deficit has had dramatic negative effects and unfortunately we in the West for far too long turned a blind eye to that freedom deficit." "We have a level of helplessness that has produced an ideology of hatred so thorough and so virulent ... that this cannot be the future of the Middle East. "Security and moral concern tell us that this is a part of the world that cannot be insulated from the dignity and prosperity that freedom brings. People in those societies are just tired of being denied their freedom," she said. Rice was speaking before an invited audience at the Institute of Political Studies. Rice said Islam and democracy can coexist, and expressed hope for Iraq as it emerges from what promises to be a difficult political process. Laying out her strategy as America’s top diplomat, Rice said she believes the elected Shiite majority that is likely to emerge from last month’s elections in Iraq understands the need for tolerance. Rice said she was "heartened" by comments among some Shiite leaders who understood that a theocratic government in Iraq would be "unacceptable" to many Iraqis.