Rice avoids offending oil buddies over Muslim issue

The woman who rarely gets anything right, got it wrong again today. Condoleezza Rice publicly accused Syria and Iran of instigating riots triggered by cartoons published in a Danish newspaper last September.

"I have no doubt that Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and have used this for their own purposes," Rice said. "The world ought to call them on it."

These are "Axis of Evil" countries. Note that Saudi Arabia isn't mentioned anywhere.

She did not offer specifics during a brief State Department news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. The United States accuses Iran and Syria of funding terrorism and has tried to unite world opinion against both Middle Eastern nations.

No specifics. That's not a bad idea since she either has none or would probably have to make them up. She's recruiting for another coalition of the willing again.

There is no doubt that Syria and Iran are involved heavily with this whole issue, but it was the Saudis who first published a raft of editorials, right after the disaster at the Hajj, which whipped this issue into violent reaction.

Bush weighs in:

"We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press," he said.

I'm glad he got specific about what areas don't get a violent reaction.

Bush also said that Americans believe in a free press, and added, "With freedom comes the responsibility to be thoughtful about others."

Does that mean you're going to put a muzzle on Rove and stop him from instigating things like this?