By Banzay on 21:24
Filed Under: Condoleezza, Rice
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, writing in the Wall Street Journal, urges the Senate to ratify the new START treaty, but to make clear to Moscow that the agreement doesn't limit U.S. missile defenses. Rice -- who served as secretary of state under former President George W. Bush and as a National Security Council official during his father's administration -- has been conspicuously missing until now from lists of former GOP national security heavyweights who have lined up to endorse the U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reduction treaty. The previous agreements have enjoyed broad bipartisan support. Among those backing the treaty are Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and George Shultz, as well as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Republican Dick Lugar.One advocate of the treaty questioned the importance of Rice's public endorsement at this late stage, given signs, he said, that the deal is basically already sealed. But it's worth considering whether Rice, who recently met with Obama in the Oval Office, kept her endorsement in reserve until closer to when START advocates began making their full-court press for a Senate vote.Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), the top Republican in the chamber negotiating with the administration, said again Monday that he didn't think there was enough time in the lame-duck session to consider the treaty.But several other Senate Republicans have signalled in recent days their hopes that the treaty would come up for a vote before the end of the year.
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