Rice: Iran "is Very Much Out of Step" with Trends in the Region

Beth Fouhy, The Associated Press:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged Friday that John R. Bolton has "rough edges" but said it was time for the Senate to approve his nomination to be U.N. ambassador so he can promote needed reform.

A day after Democrats forced the Republican-run Senate to delay a vote on Bolton until at least next month, Rice called him a "pretty tough person" but added, "There are many people who work for him who would walk through a wall for him."

Bolton has been accused of bullying intelligence officials whose analyses ran counter to his conservative views. His defenders have said he did not mistreat them and is entitled to disagree with intelligence estimates he receives.

Answering questions at the Commonwealth Club during a long weekend trip here, Rice cited the U.N. Human Rights Commission as a key example of why the world body needs an overhaul.

"When you have a commission on human rights and Sudan is on it, nobody can take it seriously," Rice said, referring to a country the Bush administration has accused of engaging in genocide.

"We need to send a strong voice for reform of the United Nations to the United Nations," Rice said. ...

On Iran, Rice said it would be an "enormously dangerous" situation if Iran were to become a nuclear weapons state.

"We're going to do everything we can to prevent that outcome," she said, adding that Iran "is very much out of step" with trends in the region. READ MORE

Iranian officials said this week that their country would not develop nuclear weapons and would continue a moratorium on uranium enrichment activities.

Rice has a long association with the San Francisco area, having served as provost at nearby Stanford University before joining the Bush administration in 2001.