Democrats, GOP senators criticize Rice

WASHINGTON -- Republican and Democratic senators criticized the Bush administration Wednesday over its policies in Iraq, Iran and the Palestinian territories, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered her first testimony on Capitol Hill in months.\n"I don't see, Madame Secretary, how things are getting better. I think they're getting worse in Iraq, they're getting worse in Iran," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told Rice as she appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.\nRice also had a tense exchange with moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., over the pace of progress toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace and the implications of the Hamas victory in Palestinian legislative elections last month.\n"We will continue to insist that the leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism and work for lasting peace," Rice said.\nThough the moderate Chafee and Hagel, a frequent GOP maverick, are less conservative than many of their Republican colleagues, their criticism underscored a widespread frustration in Congress with the difficult problems the United States is facing across the Middle East.\nRice tried to take the offensive by announcing an administration request for $75 million this year to build democracy in Iran, saying the United States must support Iranians who are seeking freedoms under what she called a radical regime.\nThe United States and its European allies are confronting Iran over its nuclear program. Tehran has remained defiant and said this week that it is resuming small-scale uranium enrichment, which many countries fear could be an early step toward production of fuel for a nuclear bomb.\n"They have now crossed a point where they are in open defiance of the international community," Rice said.\nShe declined to detail what punishment the United States is pursuing, although she did acknowledge that the United States has analyzed the impact of oil sanctions on Iran and has a "menu of options" available.\n"You will see us trying to walk a fine line in actions we take," Rice said.\nThe money Rice wants for Iran, which will be included in an emergency 2006 budget request the White House is expected to send to Congress as early as this week, would be used for radio and satellite television broadcasting and for programs to help Iranians study abroad.\n"The United States wishes to reach out to the Iranian people and support their desire to realize their own freedom and to secure their own democratic and human rights. The Iranian people should know that the United States fully supports their aspirations for a freer, better future," Rice said.\nAt one point, Rice and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., interrupted one another as they argued about U.S. policy in the Middle East, where the Democrat accused the Bush administration of having a "tin ear" to Arab views.\nBoxer, who was one of Rice's most persistent critics during a contentious confirmation process last year, also recalled Rice's warning before the 2003 Iraq invasion that the world could not afford to let the "smoking gun" of Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction become a "mushroom cloud."\n"That was a farce and the truth is coming out," Boxer said.\nAssociated Press reporter Liz Sidoti contributed to this report.