Rice Lashes Out at Syria, Lahoud and Iran
In an interview with the Kuwaiti daily Al Rai, Rice said: "We want a change in Syria's behavior. And we've made very clear that Syria, if it can find a way to be a stabilizing force in the region, rather than a destabilizing force, of course, then there would be much to talk about."
She accused Syria of "allowing its territory to be used for the transit of terrorists from Syria to Iraq."
"They're killing innocent Iraqis. Syria is engaging in activities that are destabilizing to the democratic government of Lebanon and resisting efforts there to deal with Lebanon's past, the assassination of (Former Premier) Rafik Hariri," Rice added.
In another interview with Israel's Channel 10 about the possibility of Israeli engagement with Syria, Rice said the United States "would like to see at some point a resolution on the Syrian matter," but noted that Syria currently continues to try to "undermine the government of Lebanon" and "play a negative role in the Palestinian conflict."
"There's no indication that the Syrian government has anything but disruptive plans right now," Rice said. "(The U.S. continues) to look for evidence that Syria's behavior is changing, that Syria is going to stop supporting the destabilization of Iraq, that Syria will stop supporting the destabilization of Lebanon."
In response to a question by Al Rai on what would the U.S. reaction be if Lahoud decided to dismiss the Saniora government, Rice said: "I think there'd be a very, very bad international reaction to that because people support the government of Prime Minister Saniora."
She reiterated that Saniora formed his government after "free and fair parliamentary elections."
"He has governed through a very difficult war for the Lebanese people, a tragic war for the Lebanese people."
"He has international support. There's going to be a Paris donor's conference to try to help the Lebanese government," she added.
Rice, in her interview with Fox News, said the Iranians are "making life very difficult for a lot of our friends in the region through Hizbullah and Hamas and support for extremists."
"They threaten to really destabilize the region," she said.
The United States will combat Iranian efforts at destabilization, especially in Iraq, Rice said, adding that the U.S. military aims at carrying out these efforts from within Iraq.
"We're going to continue to reach out to the Iranian people, a great people, a people that shouldn't be isolated," Rice said. "But we have to be very tough with Iran and make life difficult for them if they're not going to adhere to international norms."
