By Steven T. Jones

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who spoke to the Commonwealth Club of California on May 27, got a San Francisco-style welcome when she was confronted by hundreds of anti-war activists outside of Davies Symphony Hall, and by four inside, who donned black robes and hoods and assumed poses reminiscent of the infamous torture photos from Abu Ghraib prison.

In her speech Rice cited two key historical events to explain why she chose to speak in San Francisco at the start of Memorial Day weekend: the signing of the United Nations charter here 60 years ago, and a speech then-Secretary of State George Schultz gave to the Commonwealth Club 20 years ago, in which he first asserted the "Reagan Doctrine," which threatened the use of military force anywhere in the world where what Rice called "freedom and democracy" were in jeopardy.

"Our challenge today is to create conditions of openness around states," Rice told the largely supportive crowd, at which point one of the protesters stood silently in the Abu Ghraib pose, drawing gasps and a smattering of applause from the crowd, which Rice ignored, continuing with her prepared speech.

As San Francisco police officers closed in to arrest the protester, at least three others in the same costumes stood up and began chanting, "Stop the torture, stop the killing, U.S. out of Iraq," disrupting the speech briefly before all were arrested, to the applause of the crowd. When Rice continued, her voice was noticeably shaky.

The speech and protests came the same week that Amnesty International issued a scathing annual report condemning the United States for its human rights abuses and for its failure to fully investigate reports of torture at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere. The report contends that U.S. actions invite other countries to also ignore international law and human rights standards.

Yet that context seemed to be lost on Rice, who made several statements that would have drawn howls of protest from those demonstrating outside. Among her statements:

"We reject the entire premise of imposing democracy because democracy, unlike tyranny, does not have to be imposed," she said, despite her long record of statements about bringing democracy to Iraq.

"A strong and vibrant United Nations is the key to world stability," said the woman who once warned that the international body would be "irrelevant" if it didn't endorse the Bush Administration's plans to launch a unilateral war on Iraq, in clear violation international law.

"This isn't national resistance, this is bloody terror, and you have to call it by name," Rice said of those fighting American forces in Iraq, none of whom have any legitimate concerns about the U.S. occupation and are all just foreign terrorists and former Baathists, according to Rice.

"People will have to be brought to the international community if they don't live up to their obligations," she said of countries seeking to obtain nuclear weapons, a statement similar to those made by Amnesty International, which said officials like Rice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld may be at risk of arrest for war crimes when traveling abroad.

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