(9:40 a.m. EDT)

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen. I want to thank the members of the Committee for this opportunity to address this extremely important set of policy issues.

I have a longer statement, Mr. Chairman, but in order to permit full questions, I think I will just submit it for the record if that is possible.

CHAIRMAN LANTOS: Without objection.

SECRETARY RICE: The United States has enduring national interests in the Middle East: economic, geopolitical, security and moral values. For more than six decades, over the course of many administrations, American leaders of both parties have worked for peace and security in the region, not always perfectly, but consistently. The Middle East is now and will remain one of the most strategically important parts of the world for our national interest and for international security. Therefore, the United States will never retreat from our commitments in the Middle East.

The goal we seek is a secure and peaceful region. But for that peace and security to be lasting, not false stability, it must be rooted in what President Bush calls the "non-negotiable demands of human dignity" -- the rule of law, limits on state power, free speech, religious liberty, equal justice, property rights, tolerance of difference and respect for women. These values are a source of success for nations across the world and they are the only ideas that can give people in the Middle East a future of modernity with dignity. This, we believe, will ultimately defeat the ideology of violent extremism and thus ensure our security.

I look forward, Mr. Chairman, to talking with the Committee about how we pursue these goals.

2007/922