Kraven Moorehead

Rice tells Europe to move past conflicts
PARIS (AP) — Trying to mend fences with Europe, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday "it is time to turn away from the disagreements of the past" that alienated longtime allies over the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"America has everything to gain" from having a stronger Europe as a partner, Rice told the group.
By Jack Guez, AFP

France was the most vocal opponent of President Bush's handling of the war with Iraq, and the new secretary of state deliberately chose Paris for the major address of her first official tour of Europe. (Video: Rice visits the Vatican)

But Rice did not back down from Bush's pledge to spread freedom across the globe and added a challenge to Europeans.

"America stands ready to work with Europe on our common agenda and Europe must stand ready to work with America," she said in a speech at Paris's Institute of Political Studies.

"After all, history will surely judge us not by our old disagreements, but by our new achievements," she said.

Science Politique, known in France as Sciences Po, is a school of political science that has been at the center of recent debate over America's reach and power. Some 500 students and intellectuals were attending and Rice was to take questions from the audience.

Following her speech, Rice answered a series of questions, ranging from Iraq's effort to establish a democracy to the development of biological weapons. She told the students and guests that the Iraqis would now engage in a political process to form a government that was not at odds with religion.

"What we must understand there is no inherent conflict between Islam and democracy," she said.

Rice also explained why she chose Paris considering the rift over Iraq between the two nations. "This is a deep broad and active relationship that is very effective on world peace," she said. "When we disagree, we still disagree as friends."

In her speech, Rice said the founders of both the French and U.S. republics were inspired by the same values — freedom, democracy and human dignity — and by each other. History has shown that revolutions striving for freedom can start in mundane ways but need outside help, she said.

"In my own experience, a black woman named Rosa Parks was just tired one day of being told to sit in the back of the bus," Rice said. "So she refused to move, and she launched a revolution for freedom in the American South."

Similar was the power of Lech Walesa and his labor strike in Poland, Afghans and Iraqis who recently voted after years of repression and ordinary men and women who helped bring down the Berlin Wall in 1989.

"Yet that day of freedom in November 1989 could never have happened without the full support of the free nations of the West," she said.

"Time and again in our shared history, Americans and Europeans have enjoyed our greatest successes for ourselves and for others, when we refused to accept an unacceptable status quo, but instead put our values to work for the cause of freedom.

Rice said, "America has everything to gain" from having a stronger Europe as a partner.

"It is time to turn away from the disagreements of the past," Rice said. "It is time to open a new chapter in our relationship, and a new chapter in our alliance."

Rice said the United States and Europe should move beyond "a partnership based on common threats" and focus instead on a partnership based upon "common opportunities, beyond the trans-Atlantic community."

Earlier in Rome, Rice said she is optimistic about the chances for Israel and the Palestinians to reach accommodation, in part because of a new thirst for peace throughout the Middle East. She cautioned that "there is still a long road ahead."

"There seems to be a will in the Middle East because people want to live in a different kind of Middle East," Rice said.

She commented after a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini in which they discussed Iraq, the Middle East other issues.

Their meeting came hours before Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared that their people would stop all military or violent activity, pledging to break the four-year cycle of bloodshed and get peace talks back on track.

Fresh from meeting separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the prior two days, Rice reiterated that success at Tuesday's summit and beyond will depend in part on help and commitment from other Middle Eastern countries the international community in general.

She had harsh words for one neighbor of Israel.

"Syria has been unhelpful in a number of ways," Rice said, adding that Syria knows it must clamp down on terrorism before relations with the United States and the rest of the world can improve.

"I would hope Syria would not want to be isolated and would not want to have bad relations with the United States. ... I would hope Syria would react in a more positive way.