Rice Warns of Nuclear Weapons Threats

Anne Gearan, The Associated Press:

The world may never know precise details about nuclear efforts in Iran and North Korea but must not "under-react" because of incomplete intelligence, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

In her first public remarks about last week's scathing report by a presidential commission studying U.S. spy agencies, Rice said she could not guarantee that U.S. intelligence was on the mark now, as the Bush administration seeks international cooperation to end suspected or declared nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

"There are no guarantees where intelligence is concerned," Rice said, "particularly when you're dealing with opaque and difficult societies like the ones that tend to want weapons of mass destruction undercover." READ MORE

The report blamed intelligence agencies for knowing "disturbingly little about the nuclear programs of many of the world's most dangerous actors."

In a wide-ranging interview, Rice also said that:

_ The United States will move cautiously in releasing terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because of the risk that they may do further harm.

_ The presence of U.S, troops in Iraq is not itself the cause of continuing violence. The notion that attackers are motivated only by anger at the United States "just isn't right."

_ Syria must go beyond its stated intention to withdraw troops and security forces from Lebanon, and remove "undeclared" security forces as well.

_ The government of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has turned away from Islamic extremism.

_ Tighter control of the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico is justified to "help you to prevent people who are trying to come in to hurt us."

Rice declined to say whether anyone should be fired as a result of the intelligence panel's findings.

As President Bush's national security adviser, she relied on flawed intelligence about Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction to help make the administration's case for an invasion two years ago. She succeeded Colin Powell as America's top diplomat in January.

"We have very good intelligence analysts who were doing their best, but obviously the president's intelligence has to be better than what we got on Iraq," she said Tuesday.

International suspicions about Iran and North Korea go far beyond what U.S. intelligence may have found, Rice suggested.

North Korea has announced it already has nuclear weapons, and it has refused to return to international arms talks. Iran says it is not hiding a weapons program behind a legitimate drive for civilian nuclear energy, "but they've been caught in a number of suspicious activities," Rice said.

"I don't think that there's any doubt worldwide that there is a lot of concern about the nuclear weapons capabilities of these states. And while we may never know the exact nature of any of these programs, we also have to be very careful not to under-react to the fact that you have closed societies that are ambitious in their policies, that are trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction." ...

On Iraq, Rice rejected the idea that continuing attacks on U.S.-led forces were due to American troops' presence in the country two years after Saddam Hussein was toppled.

As democracy spreads in Iraq, she said, "you will see more and more, these are very violent people. They are very ruthless people. They are clearly able to wreak chaos but they actually don't have a political platform."

Rice credited Pakistan with making a shift of "150 degrees" from almost four years ago when it was one of three countries that recognized the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Pakistan and India were on the verge of open conflict.

"It's really night and day," she said. "The Musharraf government has done a lot."

The Bush administration announced last month that it will sell sophisticated F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan over India's objections.