Whoa. "Colin Powell's Blot"

[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?