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updated 5:45 a.m. ET Jan. 13, 2007

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday criticized Sen. Barbara Boxer’s suggestion that because she doesn’t have family in harm’s way, she won’t pay a personal price in the Iraq war.

“In retrospect, gee, I thought single women had come further than that, that the only question is are you making good decisions because you have kids,” Rice said in an interview Friday on Fox News.

Boxer’s comment came during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Thursday in which Rice was grilled on President Bush’s new war plans.

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“Who pays the price?” Boxer asked Rice, who is unmarried and doesn’t have children. “I’m not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young. You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with immediate family.

“So who pays the price? The American military and their families.”

Boxer, D-Calif., defended herself in a statement Friday.

“I spoke the truth at the committee hearing, which is that neither Secretary Rice nor I have family members that will pay the price for this escalation,” she said. “My point was to focus attention on our military families who continue to sacrifice because this administration has not developed a political solution to the situation in Iraq.”