Whoa. "Colin Powell's Blot"

[babylonsister]

Props to him for admitting this.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/05/03/colin_powells_blot.html

May 03, 2012

Colin Powell's Blot


Former Secretary of State Colin Powell writes in his new book, It Worked for Me, that his "erroneous address to the United Nations about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction provides a lesson to business leaders on the importance of staying skeptical and following their intuition," Bloomberg reports.

Writes Powell: "Yes, a blot, a failure will always be attached to me and my UN presentation. I am mad mostly at myself for not having smelled the problem. My instincts failed me."

[peacebird]

1. No props. He forgot the troops. He allowed his ambitions to come ahead of the troops.

He should not be forgiven for throwing "the Powell doctrine" under the bus for his ambitions or his fealty to the R party.

Countless thousands died for his "blot".

[pasto76]

11. Bullshit. He didnt throw anything under the bus. "fealty"?! forget his endorsement in 2008?

I doubt you hate republicons more than I do. Some of those thousands were my friends.

As Secretery of State, most of this Iraq thing was out of his control. And if you've ever read one thing about how Rummy did numerous end runs around him - unless you are as bad as they are - you wouldnt have this opinion. Hell just watch the Frontline episode "Rumsfeld's war" and you will get a pretty clear picture.

Ive always liked General Powell. Making statements like these are what people with Integrity do. He was lied to, just like the rest of us. He was trying to be a good soldier and gave that speech at the UN. It is the Chief reason he resigned, and his endorsment of President Obama was not something a lifelong Republican does lightly.

[iemitsu]

15. colin powell was the young army officer who was charged with

investigating the My Lai massacre.
he was accused of whitewashing the role of US soldiers.
"Colin Powell, then a 31-year-old Army major, was charged with investigating the letter, which did not specifically reference Mỹ Lai (Glen had limited knowledge of the events there). In his report, Powell wrote, "In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between Americal Division[33] soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." Powell's handling of the assignment was later characterized by some observers as "whitewashing" the atrocities of Mỹ Lai.[34] In May 2004, Powell, then United States Secretary of State, told CNN's Larry King, "I mean, I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai. I got there after My Lai happened. So, in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again, but they are still to be deplored."[35]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre#Reporting.2C_cover-up_and_investigations

[EFerrari]

26. Powell has been a career lying sack of sh!t. His endorsement of Obama

doesn't change that.

[sabrina 1]

23. Powell is lying when he says he was fooled by the information given to him. Much has been written

already about how he had refused to present as he did not trust the information, but compromised when a few things were removed. He should have quit when asked to lie to the UN, that's what a person of honor would have done, but instead he went ahead, despite his own questions, and sealed the deal for the Bush/Cheney gang and their fellow war criminals. Many died as a result of that presentation. He gets no props from me.

[JHB]

34. Fair enough, but what has been his response to the people who lied to him...

Last edited Fri May 4, 2012, 07:55 AM - Edit history (4)

...and used his reputation to advance their war plans?

Powell was seen as the reasonable respectable guy on the Bush team, the one who was a linchpin in convincing people to acquiesce to their push to invade. The career military man who wouldn't support putting troops in harm's way unless it was necessary. The man whose "Powell doctrine" would keep it short and avoid a decade-long quagmire. They needed to convince people that there was a compelling reason to go on the offensive right away, when the best outside information saw no compelling connection between Saddam and al Queda (and plenty of hostility), nor any convincing evidence that Saddam was planning any attacks himself, nor that he had any capability to carry anything out.

Colin Powell was Mr. Integrity, and his testimony conviced some and sewed enough doubt in enough other quarters that few were willing to dig in their heels and oppose the Bushites push for war. Without getting into what Powell did or didn't know to be true at the time, it was his ass and his reputation left hanging out and twisting in the wind when the truth finally got its boots on, caught up, and revealed what a pile of horseshit it was.

Powell resigned and endorsed Obama. Well, that's better than going the other way, it still falls miles short. Cheney, Rummy, and Bush* used him to take this country on a half-assed neoconservative joyride that killed thousands of the soldiers that had once been under his command, wounded tens of thousands, wasted over a trillion dollars (and the Iraqis we were supposed to be liberating from a dictator got far worse).

And that's the best case, that he'd been duped. The alternative was that he was on board with the plan.

A resignation after the damage is done and a quiet cross-party endorsement don't quite balance that out. If he wants his "blot" removed, he's going to have to be more active in expunging the factors that put it there. He didn't lose his reputation, it is exactly where he sent it.

On edit: The very same neocons who wanted the invasion of Iraq -- with their colossal underestimates of the human, material, and political costs to the country -- are now pushing for attacks on Iran, and if anything are low-balling the possible consequences to an even greater degree. Where is Powell on this? Is he just going to quietly meander the lecture circuit while they try to do it again?

[grasswire]

29. ambitions??

Colin Powell didn't have any ambitions that were paramount. He was essentially working below his potential for Bush, and had no desire for higher office.

The man could have walked into the White House at any time, with bipartisan support and -- probably -- a landslide. He chose not to pursue that.

Yes, he has a blot. But it has nothing to do with any "ambitions."

[KG]

2. piss on Colin Powell

[undeterred]

3. Its like not smelling shit when you're in the outhouse.

If you can't smell it you ain't got no instincts.

[Canuckistanian]

8. +1

No kidding.

[lunatica]

33. Great analogy

Actually it's a perfect analogy.

[Whisp]

4. millions of others had better instincts than Powell on this one.

he knew what he was doing, no way he was flummoxed into it like he's pretending.

[Iggo]

5. Erroneous?

He lied through his fucking teeth!

Fuck you, Colin Powell, you goddam piece of shit lying murdering war criminal.

[hootinholler]

6. Dang. I wonder what happened at Mai Lia

I always thought those were the same instincts he was following.

[underpants]

7. Three strikes Colin ..

1. His Mai Lai "investigation" and coverup. That got him into the seat of power at the Pentagon
2. He signed for the missiles and spare parts to be flown out of Germany. "No tickie no laundry" a lowly supply Sgt. famously said. Gen. Powell signed the order
3. The embarassment at the UN - where W&Co. demanded that the Picasso “Guernica” mural be covered when Powell spoke.

[TrollBuster9090]

10. Man, I didn't know about the Guernica thing. That, along with covering the Statue of Lady Justice

are the two metaphors that pretty much sum up the Bush Jr. Administration.

1. Let's cover up the statue of Lady Justice because our wingnut base thinks nipples are obscene, while ignoring the fact that the curtain is made out of copies of The Patriot Act.

2. Let's cover up the mural of Guernica because it might remind somebody that we're proposing bombing the shit out of Baghdad, while ignoring the symbolism of us becoming the Nazis.

[Sanity Claws]

14. Are you sure about that third item?

That mural is in Madrid, if I recall properly. It was in NY's Museum of Modern Art for decades but finally went back to Spain after Franco's death

[justabob]

19. there is a tapestry reproduction at the UN

Earlier this week, U.N. officials hung a blue curtain over a tapestry reproduction of Picasso's Guernica at the entrance of the Security Council. The spot is where diplomats and others make statements to the press, and ostensibly officials thought it would be inappropriate for Colin Powell to speak about war in Iraq with the 20th century's most iconic protest against the inhumanity of war as his backdrop.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_gist/2003/02/hidden_treasures.html

[coalition_unwilling]

24. What is #2 a reference to? I share your assessment of Powell, but I'm

drawing a blank on 'missiles and spare parts'. Is that an Iran-Contra reference?

[underpants]

32. Iran-Contra

Sorry I just reread it and realized that I didn't mention the actual subject

[TrollBuster9090]

9. Yeah, the point is, they sent Powell to the UN *BECAUSE* the world community believed him to be

honest and reliable, and he would not make the case UNLESS he was sure it was TRUE and ACCURATE.

The BLOT STANDS, and it's all he will (and should) be remembered for. Colin Powell: the guy who gave CREDIBILITY to a big snow job that killed thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, displaced millions, and bankrupted the country. America didn't go to war because Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney said so. America went to war because POWELL, one of the heroes of Gulf War I said Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney were telling the truth.

[DallasNE]

12. Powell Can't Get Away With This

Agreed, it is a blot, but keep in mind that Powell took the intelligence report and threw it on the floor calling it bullshit. He then turned around and dutifully presented that same intelligence at the UN. It wasn't his instincts that failed Powell, it was his ambition so business leaders will go over that same cliff and for the same reason. Power corrupts absolutely. Always has, always will.

[Crunchy Frog]

13. A "blot"? I'd say that's just a little bit of an understatement.

And how come I knew he was lying in front of the UN, and he didn't? I honestly don't believe that he's that stupid.

[Fumesucker]

16. It's like the Powell Doctrine never existed..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powell_Doctrine

[spanone]

17. it was a terminal blot on the lives of how many thousand soldiers?

[tclambert]

18. A blot? "Oh my, I appear to have gotten a drop of spaghetti sauce on my tie."

"Oops, no, I am actually completely drenched in blood. My mistake."

[jerseyjack]

20. "Before the smoking gun becomes a mushroom cloud."

Bullshit.

Many of us on this site knew it was bullshit.

Condi, George Tenant, they all knew too.

Maybe the only one of them who didn't know was Bush himself because he was too stupid.

[Skip Intro]

21. A blot? What about the blood on your hands, mr. powell?

You're no better than bush, cheney, rummy or condi.

You helped perpetrate a lie for which countless hundreds of thousands have died.

And we're supposed to feel sorry for you because you have a "blot" on your record.

It is a disgrace that you and that gang aren't rotting in some dark cell somewhere.

[gratuitous]

22. Eight years and 11 months later

Powell finally gets around to saying in public what he said at the time. Naturally, it wasn't reported stateside. You had to go to England to find out what Powell really thought about his Prevaricating Powerpoint Presentation:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/jun/02/usa.iraq

Much of the initial information for Mr Powell's speech to the UN was provided by the Pentagon, where Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy defence secretary, set up a special unit, the Office of Special Plans, to counter the uncertainty of the CIA's intelligence on Iraq.

Mr Powell's team removed dozens of pages of alleged evidence about Iraq's banned weapons and ties to terrorists from a draft of his speech, US News and World Report says today. At one point, he became so angry at the lack of adequate sourcing to intelligence claims that he declared: "I'm not reading this. This is bullshit," according to the magazine.

Presented with a script for his speech, Mr Powell suspected that Washington hawks were "cherry picking", the US magazine Newsweek also reports today. Greg Theilmann, a recently retired state department intelligence analyst directly involved in assessing the Iraqi threat, says that inside the Bush administration "there is a lot of sorrow and anger at the way intelligence was misused".

So yeah, Colin. You thought it was bullshit in 2003, but you played the good soldier and read every last word. That makes you a war criminal, and in a slightly more just world, you'd be answering for your crimes instead of cashing fat blood-stained consulting checks.

[coalition_unwilling]

25. Before he answers for those crimes, there's the little matter of survivors

and surviving family members of the My Lai massacre who might also like some answers.

[lutefisk]

27. He's talking like he's on trial

Those treasonous bastards got away with it, so he's safe. But if there ever were (in some alternate reality) war crimes charges and a trial- saying, "I am mad mostly at myself for not having smelled the problem. My instincts failed me" won't save him. He can never lie his way out of what he did. Seriously, he can go to Hell.

[JFN1]

28. He is a coward and a liar

trying to faux pas away the true depth of his responsibility. His "failed instincts" still equate to complicity in the massive lie that is the Iraq invasion and occupation.

[Rowdyboy]

30. Boy, did you ever open yourself up to a hailstorm for expressing a simple opinion...While I didn't

think his explanation was nearly enough, I automatically tend to be somewhat surprised on the rare occasions any Republican admits being wrong. I would have given him props too, but, seeing the response you've received, I'll just go away now....

[babylonsister]

31. Really! Good thing I've developed a thick skin...

[GOTV]

35. That's quite a blot given that it helped destroy thousands of American families ...

... I hope he's not losing sleep over his blot.

[GeorgeGist]

36. "It worked for Me".

Arrogant phuck.