Boston Globe: Rice speaks on eve of commencement

Rice speaks on eve of commencement

By Catherine Elton, Globe Correspondent | May 21, 2006

On the eve of her controversial speaking engagement at Boston College's commencement,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice celebrated her critics' right to object to her presence.

But she defended the Bush administration's actions in Iraq and challenged her critics'
assertions that the Iraq war clashes with Catholic morals.

"Christians are of course on both sides of the argument about the use of force -- when it is
indeed just to use force and when it is not," she said at a news conference today. "We have
overthrown a dictator who brutalized his population….Sometimes you have to get rid of really,
really bad regimes"

Some students and faculty are planning silent actions of protest for tomorrow’s ceremony,
while Boston peace activists are planning to rally outside the event.