Colin Powell's memory

[Yonivore]

Gen. Colin Powell told the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado that he tried to talk President Bush out of going to war in 2003, the Times of London reported. Powell said:

We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction; he’s determined to make more.

Given Saddam Hussein’s history of aggression, given what we know of his grandiose plans, given what we know of his terrorist associations and given his determination to exact revenge on those who oppose him, should we take the risk that he will not some day use these weapons at a time and the place and in the manner of his choosing at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond?

The United States will not and cannot run that risk to the American people.

Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11th world.

My colleagues, over three months ago this council recognized that Iraq continued to pose a threat to international peace and security, and that Iraq had been and remained in material breach of its disarmament obligations.

Today Iraq still poses a threat and Iraq still remains in material breach.

Indeed, by its failure to seize on its one last opportunity to come clean and disarm, Iraq has put itself in deeper material breach and closer to the day when it will face serious consequences for its continued defiance of this council.

My colleagues, we have an obligation to our citizens, we have an obligation to this body to see that our resolutions are complied with.

We wrote 1441 not in order to go to war, we wrote 1441 to try to preserve the peace.

We wrote 1441 to give Iraq one last chance. Iraq is not so far taking that one last chance.

We must not shrink from whatever is ahead of us.

We must not fail in our duty and our responsibility to the citizens of the countries that are represented by this body.

Oh wait. That was what Powell actually said to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003. It was a great speech but people soured on the war.

But hey, people in Aspen are gullible. I hope he received a nice fat fee for telling them what they wanted to hear.

Some say Powell was just being loyal then. If that's the case, does that make him more credible now?

[PixelPusher]

Some say Powell was just being loyal then. If that's the case, does that make him more credible now?

Loyalty > Truth has always been the greatest Commandment of the Bush Administration.

Well, to be more precise, it's actually Loyalty > (fill in the blank)

[boutons_]

"Given Saddam Hussein’s history of aggression"

He failed in his attack on Iran.

After he hit Kuwait, his army was destroyed and then shutdown by flyovers and sanctions from 1989 through 2003, and watched closely by US/coalition forces occupying adjacent countries, rendering Saddam harmless to the USA.

"given what we know of his terrorist associations"

totally discredited. "bad/hyped intel"

"use these weapons"

he didn't have WMD, UN inspectors couldn't find them, and the US military couldn't find them, not even the mobile bio-labs (which weren't weapons labs) when Powell lied to the UN about them, (and people in dubya's Exec let Powell lie about them).

There is an obligation NOT to start bogus war on bad intelligence.
If the intelligence can't be verified, don't start the war. There were severe doubts about all the "intel" but these doubts were suppressed and classified (hidden from Congress) to avoid nullifying head's case for war.

There was simply NO case for war. dubya/ head/neo- s/AEI/PNAC wanted to invade Iraq for oil even while Clinton was still in office, never mind after 9/11.

After permitting 9/11 to happen through dereliction of NatSec duty and incompetence, head then lied about Saddam/WTC and Saddam/AQ, and exploited the USA's desire for revenge and trust in the Exec as having the US's best interest at heart, to build a bogus case for the war. The WH bullied and intimidated the media into silence and complicity, calling people terrorist lovers, pro-terrorists, soft on terror, weenies, guilty of treason, and assorted similar claptrap, because the WH knew aggressive questioning and access to all the intelligence would have destroyed the WH case for war.


Keep repeating the lies, Yoni, but it won't make them true.

[Ocotillo]

Powell's reputation is forever soiled by his lies. Nice try Colin, you had the world as your oyster seven years back and now you are just another embittered former Bush toadie trying to salvage your name.