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Rice Tours Beatles Country with U.K. Foreign Minister Jack Straw

Takes anti-war protests in stride, says conflicting views should be expressed

Stopping in northern England during a three-country visit to Europe, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked about anti-war protestors, sleepless nights because of Iraq and the name of her favorite Beatles' song.

"I have no problem with people saying what they think," Rice said in an interview with Granada TV while visiting Liverpool and Blackburn with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Anti-war protests accompanied the secretary's March 31 visit, which mirrored Straw's visit to Rice's hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, in October 2005. (See related article.)

"I can tell you that it's not the first time I've seen protests," Rice said in the TV interview. "I'm a university professor. I've seen lots of protests."

Earlier the same day, while touring a British Aerospace plant in Blackburn with Straw, Rice also was asked about the anti-war demonstrations. "People have a right to protest," she responded. "That's what democracy is all about."

She said such protests also have taken place in American cities during her visits. "If there are indeed different views ... it's best to express them, not to keep them bottled up," she said. (The transcript of Rice's remarks at British Aerospace is available on the State Department Web site.)

Rice's visit to northern England aimed to give her a chance to hear the views of people well outside London. Her itinerary included a visit to a local school, where some parents reportedly kept their children home as a sign of protest, according to media reports.

"That's quite all right, if that's what their parents wish to do," Rice told Granada TV. "But I'm not going to fail to go into places because people have different views," she said, adding it is important to visit places where opinions vary.

SLEEPLESS ABOUT IRAQ?

In her Grenada TV interview, Rice was asked if she "ever had a sleepless night" due to events in Iraq.

"Of course," Rice replied. "We all mourn the loss of life. We all worry about the violence." However, she added, it's important to put the violence into perspective and to also recall that Iraq under former dictator Saddam Hussein was a country of mass graves where the government used chemical weapons against ethnic Kurds and Shi'a.

The ongoing violence causes sleepless nights, she acknowledged. But, she added, "You also wake up to a day when you know that the Iraqi people are having - and can think of - a better future. And they, too, will be able to exercise their rights" to publicly protest and demonstrate.

SECRETARY A BEATLES FAN

The Beatles figured prominently in Rice's interviews because she has made no secret she is longtime fan of the 1960s rock and roll group.

"I'm a big Beatles fan," she said. "Isn't everybody?"

With Straw, she visited the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, Paul McCartney's old school. "We heard gospel, we heard rock, we saw dance, we heard a group singing Stevie Wonder, one of my favorite songs that they were singing," Rice said afterwards. "And they're very talented students and it's great that here at the Paul McCartney School they have the opportunity to develop their talents.

"I actually used to skate to the [John Lennon] song 'Imagine,'" said Rice, who is an avid figure skater.

Asked whether "Imagine" is her favorite Beatles song, Rice replied, "Well, I have a lot of favorite Beatles songs. But that one is special to me because I did skate to it and you remember the songs that you've skated to in competition even if, like me, you didn't skate very well."

Source: U.S. Department of State

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