Susan Rice: "mistaken if not fallacious" a New York Times report

 Though voting against sanctions, Turkey and Brazil 'went out on a limb'

By Julian Pecquet - 06/13/10 10:54 AM ET

Susan Rice, the United States' ambassador to the United Nations, called a New York Times report that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai had lost faith in NATO's ability to defeat the Taliban and was ready to cut a deal with the insurgents "mistaken if not fallacious" during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."

Rice went on to say that the United States is "in agreement with" Karzai's attempts to reach out to Taliban members who are ready to renounce violence and rejoin society.

Rice also pushed back against the notion that support for sanctions against Iran is dwindling. While Turkey and Brazil voted against the latest United Nations sanctions resolution, they "went out on a diplomatic limb" in trying to come up with an alternative plan to get Iran to curtail its nuclear ambitions. Each new resolution, she said, "ramps up the cost for Iran of pursuing the course that it's on."

The United States thinks Israel can mount a "credible and impartial" investigation into its raid against a flotilla that tried to run its blockade of Gaza, Rice said, suggesting a United Nations probe isn't necessary. She did add that adding an international component "would strengthen an investigation and would buttress its credibility."

Rice also left open the possibility that the U.S. could put North Korea back on its list of "state sponsors of terrorism" after the U.N. Security Council looks into the sinking of a South Korean corvette that left 46 sailors dead. An international investigation found that the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, something the isolated dictatorship denies.