Rice: "...In some places in the Middle East, our steadfast support for Israel is not popular..."

QUESTION: Now, that sounds like a part – a big part of what President Bush has advocated, which is promoting democracy around the world, that that should help fight terrorism, that should help establish peace. But also, with that comes promoting America’s image. How has that gone? Because there’s a general perception that what some people, say Karen Hughes, who you know so well, an old friend of the President, tried to do didn’t work.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, it’s shortsighted to worry about changing some negative perceptions about the United States in a matter of a couple of years. It’s just shortsighted. Sometimes people don’t like our policies. In some places in the Middle East, our steadfast support for Israel is not popular. But if you marry that with the President’s advocacy for a Palestinian state, people understand that the United States is really trying to bring peace. Sometimes, it’s not popular to tell the truth about the roots of terrorism and what needs to be done to make certain that terrorists can’t attack again.
But I’m always a little puzzled to find the two most populous countries in the world -- China and India – even if you want to take the test of popularity, which by the way, I don’t think is the issue, but even if you wanted to take the test of popularity, the United States is very well regarded. And so yes, there are some places where our policies are not popular, where the fact that we’ve had to do hard things and tell people that we’re going to do hard things, that perhaps the United States is not popular.
But the United States should never seek popularity. It should seek respect. It should seek a
reputation for standing for the right values. And sometimes – and by the way, it’s often been the case, not just with the Bush Administration – that will lead people to criticize us.

Read on, here at STATE.gov