Rice breaks with Bush over anthem
From: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in Washington

May 01, 2006

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18 ... 09,00.html


US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a rare public break with her boss, saw no problem with a Spanish-language version of the national anthem criticised by US President George W. Bush.

Mr Bush last week added a new dimension to a debate over immigration by rejecting a Latino recording of Nuestro Himno (Our Anthem) and declaring the Star-Spangled Banner should be sung in English.

But Dr Rice, one of the president's closest aides who has backed him down the line on every issue from Iraq to national security wiretaps, took a different tack on the anthem.

"From my point of view, people expressing themselves as wanting to be Americans is a good thing," she said in an interview on CBS television's Face the Nation program.

"I've heard the national anthem done in rap versions, country versions, classical versions. The individualisation of the American national anthem is quite under way," she said.

The chief US diplomat suggested the language of the national anthem was less an issue than the growing polemic over immigration reform in the United States.

"I think what we need to focus on is an immigration policy that is comprehensive and that recognises our laws and recognises our humanity," Dr Rice said.