Sec'y of State Rice sees signs of progress as she "does" Baghdad--dressed . . . um, stylishly for the occasion

From Al Kamen's Washington Post "In the Loop" column:

Rice: Not Dressed to Shill

Lead of the week . . . This from, yes it can happen, the New York Times's Philip Shenon, filing from Baghdad.

"Wearing a helmet and a flak jacket and flanked by machine-gun-toting bodyguards to defend against insurgents, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came here Thursday, insisting that there were new signs of progress in Iraq and that the Bush administration had never sugarcoated its news about the American occupation."


But what about her shoes, man, what about her shoes? Surely Madame Imelda . . . er, Condi didn't complete her "counter-insurgency chic" ensemble (the machine-gun-toting bodyguards are an inspired touch; what stylish woman will want to leave home now un-flanked by her own pair?) without sheathing her tootsies in some confidence-inspiring killer shoes from her famous private collection?