Condoleezza Rice

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2008 – Washington and Baghdad are close to reaching a status of forces agreement, but negotiations on the deal to determine the future U.S. military role in Iraq are ongoing, a Defense Department official said today.

“We’ve made good progress on it; we are close,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “There are still some issues to work out, but … it’s very premature at this point to say that we have an agreement.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a surprise one-day visit to Baghdad today, said the discussion about the status of forces is possible only because of recent security progress leading up to negotiations.    » read more »

April 3, 2008 -- Bucharest, Romania -- SECRETARY RICE: Good evening, and welcome to this press availability with the National Security Advisor and with me. We will divide the labor. I'm going to make a few general comments; Steve has a few specifics for you, on particularly Afghanistan and missile defense and a couple of other matters.

First Lady Laura Bush attends a folk music program in Bucharest during NATO meeting.: Photo by Shealah Craighead    » read more »

Senators Dick Durbin, Barack Obama Call on State Department to Publicly Ask France to Follow American Example of Cooperation on Manuel Noreiga's Extradition and Extradite Hans Peterson Immediately

05 August 2007 -- Senior Bush administration officials say the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq is showing some military success. At the same time, they say they are concerned with the slow pace of movement toward national political reconciliation.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he is pleased with the military side of the U.S. operation in Iraq.

"Yes, I think that the effort under way to dampen the violence, particularly that caused by the Baathists and by al-Qaida, is working as well as we would have hoped, both in Anbar province and in belts (areas) around Baghdad," he said.    » read more »

Jeddah, 31 July 2007 (By David Gollust) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates discussed Iraq and other Middle East issues late Tuesday with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and other top Saudi officials in Jeddah. Gates says the Bush administration will take regional stability into account in any decision it makes on the future of the U.S. troop presence in Iraq. VOA's David Gollust reports from Jeddah.    » read more »

Jerusalem, 29 July 2007 (By Jim Teeple) -- Israel's Prime Minister on Sunday said he has no objections to a proposed massive U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States. VOA's Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem.

Israel has long expressed wariness over U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says the proposal by the U.S. to sell $20 billion worth of advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states is understandable.    » read more »

30 July 2007 (By VOA News) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced a proposed $13 billion military aid deal with Egypt and a $30 billion military package for Israel.

Rice made the announcement in Washington before leaving Monday with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on a trip to the Middle East to seek support for stabilizing Iraq.

Rice said the military assistance deals with Egypt and Israel will be for a 10-year period. She also said the U.S. is forging new assistance agreements with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states.    » read more »