Condeleeza Rice, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, as the President's National Security Advisor, is the highest ranking black Alabamian to presently serve her nation. Her latest protestation to the press concerning her boss's using a lie to kickstart the Iraq war is very upsetting to most Alabamian's who want to be proud of Ms. Rice, who incidently, is the only black woman to have an Exxon oil tanker named after her. If her defense of this debacle-in-the-making, to wit, on Meet the Press in June, Rice claimed, "We did not know at the time--no one knew at the time, in our circles--maybe someone knew down in the bowels of the agency, but no one in our circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery."; is done on the orders of her boss and his minion, Carl Rove, then is it evident that our girl Condi has been snookered by the white boys in Washington to do their dirty laundry. Being from Birmingham, Condi ought to be able to recognize just how difficult it is to work "down in the bowels" of Jim Crow's wash house. It is shameful that Bushco sees fit to use Ms. Rice and her Cabinet mate, General Powell, as pawns in their war against the civil freedoms of this nation. It is a greater shame still, that Ms. Rice and General Powell, who know first hand of the cruel edge of exploitiation of the weak by the strong, allow themselves to be so used.