Sonata Cease-Fire
In a reflection of tense times abroad, and a string of recent foreign policy setbacks, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opted yesterday for a piano recital featuring classical pieces for her performance at the gathering of foreign ministers at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' annual conference.
The skits -- surely to be abandoned one of these days -- are generally lighthearted and often awful song-and-dance routines. "I don't like show-tune music," Rice explained to reporters traveling with her to Malaysia. "The hosts would like the United States to do something."
  After the Rome conference on Middle East violence, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice changes her tune. (Associated Press) |
Sign Up for RSS FeedComing from talks in Rome on the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Rice said she decided to play "a reflective piece. It's a serious time. It's not a time that is frivolous. I'll play something that is in accordance with my mood."
The Malaysians apparently had made a pretty red dress in batik silk for her to wear as she played Brahms's Intermezzo, Opus 118, No. 2 and the second movement of Brahms's Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Opus 108.
No, we are not going to make cheap-shot comparisons between playing piano while Beirut burns and fiddling while Rome burns. That would be wholly unfair and inappropriate.
The Post-Zoellick Pack
Speaking of Rice, the hunt continues for a new deputy secretary of state to replace Robert B. Zoellick . Names now circulating include our old friend Elliot Abrams , whom Loop Fans will best remember for that interesting testimony to Congress during Iran-contra days that found him pleading to -- but later pardoned for -- withholding information from Congress.
Abrams, now a deputy national security adviser, and fellow deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch II are said to be in the mix, along with former undersecretary of state and now Treasury deputy secretary Robert M. Kimmitt , who apparently hasn't expressed much enthusiasm for the job.
R. Nicholas Burns , undersecretary of state and the highest-ranking career Foreign Service officer at the department, is said to be available but not seen as a front-runner. Also being mentioned is Eric S. Edelman , undersecretary of defense for policy, somehow close to Bush I national security adviser Brent Scowcroft and to his former boss, Vice President Cheney .
No Longer Giving It the Works
CNN's Anderson Cooper , noted for his blistering criticism of the Bush administration's Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, had nothing but praise Wednesday for the military and State Department evacuations in Beirut.
"They've moved more than a thousand people by air, more than ten thousand by ship," he said in his blog. Cooper noted that "some Democrats" early on compared "the response to Katrina.
"But the truth is this week American forces have moved a huge number of people out, and they've done it under very difficult circumstances. Seeing the Marines and State Department people in action, up close, is inspiring. They are highly motivated and are working around the clock," he wrote. "They have been giving medical treatment to the sick, and I've watched them play with kids who are screaming with fear because of the deafening whirl of the helicopters.
He continued: "I just wanted to take a moment and recognize the efforts that individual Marines and sailors and State Department folks have been making. We are quick to point out when our government fails; it's important to recognize when it works as well."
One for Each Finger and Toe Plus 3
There's more at stake in 2008 than most people realize. President Bush , like every president since the days of John F. Kennedy -- maybe with the occasional exception of Gerald R. Ford -- has had to duck to avoid bumping his head leaving the presidential chopper.
And some of the backup helicopters for Marine One had no bathrooms or kitchens. But now, for only $6.1 billion, the next president will have a new fleet of 23 helicopters, each with 200 square feet of cabin space, about twice the current size. They'll have more leg room, upgrades on communications systems and likely radar warning receivers, laser detectors and flare dispensers to deflect antiaircraft missiles.
The new models, each and every one of which will have kitchen and bathroom facilities, are to go into service between 2009 to 2014.
DHS Loses Sole Survivor
Michelle Petrovich , last surviving political appointee of the original 2003 Department of Homeland Security public affairs shop, has taken a new job as head of corporate communications at international security firm Global Strategies Group LLC. Global has the contract for protecting the Baghdad International Airport and the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan.
Billion-Dollar Embassy
Speaking of security. . . . According to a recent Congressional Budget Office report, providing security for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is a billion-dollar baby. Security will cost $946 million this year (out of a total appropriation of $1.3 billion to operate the embassy).
