145;Rice to stay until Bush leaves White House146;

With Rove8217;s resignation as deputy White House chief of staff announced on Monday, Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney are among the last of the remaining top officials with Bush since he first took office in 2001.

Rice became secretary of state in 2005 at the start of Bush8217;s second term in office after being his national security advisor since January 2001. She had not been spared criticism for her role in prosecuting the unpopular Iraq war, which has taken the lives of 3,684 American soldiers since the March 2003 invasion.

Mccormack said that while Rice and other cabinet officials 8220;serve at the pleasure of the president,8221; the top US diplomat has 8220;got a lot on the agenda8221; for the next 17 months, including grappling with the Iraq war, the Israel-Palestine question as well as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear issues.