Rice skips out on Asia

I doubt it will be front page news anywhere in Georgia, but Secretary Rice just spit on Asia.

Again.

Already infamous in Asia as the first Secretary of State to skip the annual security summit of the Asian countries in ASEAN, she's now infamous for skipping the security summit twice in two years.

Story in the Australian.

Australia is one of the members of ASEAN and has suffered the wraith of Bush for several years. Years ago, just before the invasion of Iraq, the Australian intelligence agency made a horrible but accurate accusation towards Bush and Blair.

The Aussies said Bush and Blair were making up accusations against Saddam on the issue of 9/11, ties to al-Qaida, and those weapons of mass destruction.

Few Americans even noticed. Few cared that Australia had no American Ambassdor either. A huge diplomatic slam.

How did the Aussies come to believe the US and the UK were making up stories?

Given confidential access to the information from both the UK and the US, the Aussies said the two dossiers were too parallel, too much the same.

Sort of like saying two college students turned in the same answers on a take home test.