QUESTION: Good afternoon, Dr. Rice. Can you hear me?
SECRETARY RICE: Good afternoon. I hear you just fine.
QUESTION: Oh, great. Well, I'm Pamela Smith with KATV, the ABC affiliate here in Little Rock.
SECRETARY RICE: Yes.
QUESTION: And we just wanted to say thank you very much for taking the time from your busy schedule, obviously to do this.
SECRETARY RICE: Right. No, I'm glad to do it. Glad to do it.
QUESTION: Well, we want to talk about a couple of things. But obviously the most pressing thing on Americans' minds right now, President Bush is expected to address the nation tonight with a growing concern about when American forces may actually get to come home. Now, what do you say to Americans and to Arkansans, in particular, who are divided about the war and remain skeptical?
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I think the first thing that I would remind us all of is that we really do understand the sacrifice of American men and women and I'm sure sons and daughters of Arkansas. And those are brothers and sons and wives and daughters that will never come home and so we acknowledge that sacrifice. But nothing of value is ever won without sacrifice. And in this case, we are fighting to make America safer, to help a young ally in the Middle East who will be a real ally in the war on terror. And ultimately we will be safer as a result. So whatever the view of how we got into Iraq or the goals that we've had in Iraq, I think we can all agree that we want America to be successful in Iraq and to build a stronger and more stable Middle East.
QUESTION: Well, what do you feel is a realistic timetable for when we might possibly see withdrawal significantly?
SECRETARY RICE: Well, the President will say tonight that he is accepting the recommendation of General Petraeus; that indeed we can begin to look to bring some American forces home very soon within months because the surge the President ordered in January of this year is having an effect in Iraq. The conditions, security conditions on the ground are changing. We don't want to do anything that would put at risk the gains that are being made in the security environment, gains that are being made in places like Anbar Province, where al-Qaeda was once completely in control of that province and now has largely been routed there. We don't want to put at risk the gains that are being made in Baghdad neighborhoods that are coming back to life. But certainly American forces are going to begin to come down. They're going to begin to come home. And the Iraqis themselves are going to be more capable of taking on many of these responsibilities.
QUESTION: Dr. Rice, here's a question that's of particular concern to Arkansans because we have seen our share of deployment with some troops even going back a second time. What's the message to them and their families?
SECRETARY RICE: When I speak with our men and women in uniform, I say to them and they say to me what I would say to Arkansas who have deployed and are continuing to deploy. This is a noble fight. It is a fight in which we can succeed and win. Everyone understands the strain on families, the strain on communities. And indeed we are moving to a day when American forces are going to begin to come home. They're going to begin to come home in larger numbers because we are having some successes on the ground and because the Iraqi forces are getting more and more capable.
But this is not the time to lose patience. This is not the time to put at risk the gains that we have made because if we don't do this job and help this young ally emerge more stable and more capable, then we are going to leave a chaotic Iraq and a chaotic Middle East and the United States is going to have to fight far into the future. So I would hope that for the sake of our security interests, for the sake of America's own safety, that we can continue this very important and noble mission, but that we will be able to do it. And that is what General Petraeus has told the President. We will be able to do it at lower numbers than are in Iraq now.
QUESTION: Okay. Well, thank you. We're going to switch gears very quickly. While you were a child -- I should say, while you were a child in 1957 during the desegregation crisis right here in Little Rock, you, like other African-Americans, were a beneficiary of their sacrifices. Would you share your thoughts about what you feel things have or how things have developed as we approach the 50th anniversary of the desegregation crisis?
SECRETARY RICE: Yes. Well, of course, when I was born in 1954, the American south was completely segregated -- my community of Birmingham, Alabama and certainly places like Arkansas. And we have had struggles in this country. We should remember that not only have we had struggles in the modern age, but when the constitution came into being, my ancestors were three-fifths of a man, so we've had a long journey of coming to a democracy that represents all.
I know and honor the sacrifice of many who died in that civil rights struggle, including one of my young friends, Denise McNair, who was one of the little girls blown up in that church in 1964 in Birmingham, Alabama. And yet, we have overcome many of our differences. We have overcome that terrible history to the point that I'm not even the first African-American Secretary of State of the United States of America. And so it shows that people can overcome differences. They can overcome difficult histories. But because we have that history, I think Americans, more than any, should be understanding of people who are struggling in Afghanistan or in Iraq or in the Middle East to overcome differences and to come to a better place. We certainly have exactly that history. And the fact that I can sit here as Secretary of State means that the human capacity to overcome difference is really quite great.
QUESTION: Okay. Well, thank you very much for that. Also, one last question very quickly. We had heard that you might be attending the ceremony on behalf of President Bush in his absence. Any truth to that?
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I don't have a schedule just yet. I am, of course, traveling all the time. I'm trying very hard -- we're trying very hard these days to help the Palestinians move toward a Palestinian state and there are a number of other demands. But certainly there will be a representative there because this is an extraordinary moment for America to remember the sacrifices of those who brought civil rights and brought a healing to the United States -- our kind of second founding to overcome our birth defect of separation and slavery to make all Americans full citizens in this great country.
QUESTION: All right. Well, we would love to see you here.
SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Thank you very much for your time today.
SECRETARY RICE: Thank you.
QUESTION: It was great visiting with you.
SECRETARY RICE: Great visiting with you, too.
2007/758