Insurgency Can't Long Disrupt Iraqi Political Progress, Rice Says

By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2005 – The recently escalating insurgency in Iraq cannot stop the rapid, revolutionary political change that is occurring there, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a TV interview June 20 in Cairo, Egypt.

Insurgents have been doing their best to disrupt the political process that is essential to America's success strategy in Iraq, Rice said on Egyptian television station Nile TV. But, Rice added, she believes democracy will prevail.

"As Iraqis see their future, as in that political process -- and now I mean the Iraqi people, not the Iraqi leaders -- then the Iraqi people will not tolerate this insurgency," she said.

The destruction caused by insurgents is easy to see because the media covers it extensively, but a lot of progress is being made that people aren't aware of, Rice said.

The Iraqi government has figured out how to accommodate the Sunnis' request to have 25 seats on the constitutional committee by appointing 15 Sunni members of the committee and 10 Sunni consultants, she said. This will get the Sunnis involved in the government, which Rice has stressed is key to a successful democracy in Iraq.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2005/20050621_1805.html