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Rice, British Foreign Minister Discuss Ties Between Two Nations

U.S.-U.K. "special relationship" is "fundamental ... to the freedom of the world"

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw discussed the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom in a BCC interview March 31 as they toured the part of northern England Straw represents in the House of Commons.

Rice is on the final leg of a trip to Europe that began in Berlin and included a stop in Paris. (See related article.)

"We do have a very special partnership and our countries are extremely close," said Rice in response to a journalist's question. "Our Prime Minister and President are very close and we've been through a lot together since September 11th and the terrible attacks in the United States and, of course, the attacks here [in the United Kingdom] in July [2005]." (See related article.)

Straw dismissed objections to the closeness of the relationship on the part of some members of his own party. "It's fundamentally in the interest of the United Kingdom that we stay close to the United States," Straw said.

"Whatever people's feelings about it, the truth is you and I would not be standing here, had the United States not literally come to our rescue in two world wars, and people of our generation and older know that, but our children need to know that too.

"And this alliance is fundamental, literally, to the freedom of the world," the British foreign secretary added.

Source: U.S. Department of State

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