Condi Rice hides behind her degree

Thomas Friedman isn't the only one repeating himself:

We see a pattern emerging, in which Condoleezza Rice (Ph.D., Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver) invokes her academic credentials to evade responsibility for decisions that she's made or for policies that she's helped devise.

Was her administration's strategy in Iraq disastrous? Well, she says, it may seem so now, but History may deem otherwise, may even regard the strategy as brilliant. Did her administration err in letting Osama escape at Tora Bora? Oh, it's a waste of time to pass judgment now; History will render a verdict after I've retired or died. Was it smart to let Israel escalate the war on Hezbollah? Patience, please; tectonic plates take weeks, months, years, decades, eons to settle.

Scholars who enter the chambers of power should use their training as a tool to help them make decisions. Condi Rice is using hers as a chant to wish away the consequences.

While I don't doubt that the University of Denver is a reputable institution, I had always just assumed her PhD credentials came from an institution with a bit more cache.

The whole "history will decide" argument is a total cop-out. You can't guarantee the ends will justify the means 50 years down the road. And as far as Tora Bora is concerned: debating its efficacy is a waste of time only if you've already captured Osama bin Laden by other means, which we STILL HAVEN'T DONE. I'm not the student of history that Condi is - my measly Bachelor of General Studies included only a few history courses. (Then again, I went to a school you've actually heard of.) But even I know that capturing OBL would change the game completely.