Powell: "everybody in the United States thought this was a terrific outcome"

[welshTerrier2]

From today's MTP interview:

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19092206/page/2/

But let’s go back to around 10 April of 2003. Saddam Hussein’s statue fell on the 9th, and from the 10th of April, for a month or two, everybody in the United States thought this was a terrific outcome. And it looked like it was going to work, just as the administration has said it was going to work. We were liberators for a moment, and then we simply did not handle the aftermath.

Has the man been drugged or hypnotized or something? Does he really believe what he said or is he just covering up for the horrors he contributed to?

Many DU'ers, even before the invasion of Iraq, wrote about a power vacuum that would be created. We saw the balance of regional power between Iran and Iraq and questioned whether an invasion would destabilize the situation. We worried that this was yet another imperial grab for Big Oil and that bush would replace Saddam with a US puppet. This didn't mean we liked or supported Saddam; it meant we didn't think the US had a right to invade Iraq and we didn't trust bush's motives.

So, was Powell right about you? Did you think the invasion produced "a terrific outcome" for a month or two after Saddam's statue was toppled or did you understand that each and every day we spent in Iraq was leading us down a rat hole?

[Colobo]

1. Powell is saving face.

[WCGreen]

11. Is Obama saying talk to the hand...

[CGowen]

39. awful moment in a Terminator movie n/t

[grasswire]

2. and many of us knew the statue scene was a fake, too...

...in REAL TIME.

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. NBC pre-empted MTP today in these parts

Thanks for the info on the show. They were airing something on sports from 8am-1pm. I couldn't believe it!

[welshTerrier2]

5. it's on MSNBC right now

or you can watch the rerun on the MTP website.

[Norquist Nemesis]

7. Thanks!

[EFerrari]

4. My whole family was yelling at the teevee while he was lying his ass off

at the UN.

This man has no honor nor any credibility.

[ninkasi]

13. Weasel words

from a Bush flunky. He had to have known, when he made his speech to the UN, that he was lying his ass off. Apparently, now that he's no longer with the administration, and the vast majority of the country is against the president, and his war, he finds it safe to speak.

You spoke the truth when you said, "This man has no honor nor any credibility." The time for speaking the truth was before this tragedy began.

[EFerrari]

15. Powell's life is tragic because at many points, he was given

the opportunity to do the right thing and he failed to do it.

[Erika]

6. Powell ignored those of us who didn't want to go to Iraq

He and Condi both sicken me. They allowed themselves to be used.

[emilyg]

12. Yes he is - big time

the time to speak was then.

[bleever]

8. Recommended, because the history of this war is being rewritten

through ignorance, brainwashing, exposure to repetition, and laziness.

If Powell wants his full share of credibility, he needs to acknowledge that it was NEVER a great success, at any point in time, and that the fatal flaws were well-foreseen by many who strained their voices to be heard over the roar of the engines being warmed up for war.

[Tellurian]

22. Yup, spinning it as a success...except that we're stuck there through no fault of our own!

LIAR!

[whistle]

9. Colin Powell needs to slither back beneath the rock he has been hiding under

[Tellurian]

23. Slouching towards Bethlehem with the team that brung him. nm

[Tinksrival]

10. "Shock and Awe"..........

left me ashamed and infuriated in my government. How absolutely insane and pompous for any of them to think something good can come from "shock and awe".......
Makes me sick.

[demoleft]

14. Powell like some italian politicians...

You know, one of the Italian political vices is: when you make a mess you stay away for a couple of years and then come back in the spotlight!

I hope the liar will be rejected soon in America: I've been reading too many "Powell says" in the papers in the last months.
He's responsible for the murder of thousands. He should just shut his mouth and join a Yoga course.

[glitch]

28. Lol "He should just shut his mouth and join a Yoga course" they all should! nt

[Captain Hilts]

16. "Everybody?" Not I. I wanted no part of controlling post-war Iraq. I cheated by reading history.

[BanzaiBonnie]

18. I am not part of any "everybody"

I've been taught to watch very carefully when someone starts flinging around superlatives such as always and never. Words that also reflect statements of less than honest nature are --- anytime, anybody, anywhere, every time, everyone, everybody, everywhere, forever. They put a lie to statements that use those words.

[ananda]

29. the idea of "everybody" is a media creation

Lots of people, including me and many people I know, weren't fooled for a minute..
not from the beginning and not now.

Powell is an ass and an asshole.

Sue

[Captain Hilts]

44. Those HUGE pre-war, anti-war protests were full of folks that knew better. nt

[gratuitous]

20. Oh, it was everybody

You and me and the rest of the folks who weren't duped by the propaganda don't count in Powell's little world. So as far as he was concerned, "everybody" was celebrating that one millisecond when, if you squinted your eyes just right and didn't think more than two milliseconds into the future, it sort of looked like success and victory. Sort of like those laboratory-confected heavy elements that appear and then break down during atomic accelerator experiments.

[radfringe]

17. no

[BootinUp]

19. If the question is limited to

the fall of the Baghdad in the shortest amount of time possible and the least amount of casualties, then that could be considered a success. However, no one with a brain should then project that the decision to invade was the right one, or even that the military plan was the right one with respect to total mission success. Powell is still struggling with some demons.

[IndyOp]

21. How could we *not* have thought it was a success?

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Powell just forgot a simple point.

Going into Baghdad was going to create problems for us down the road. This we knew here on DU. Toppling Saddam was going to create another host of problems for us down the road. This we also knew. So it doesn't matter if they held confetti parades in the square and passed out free beer when they brought down Saddam's statute. It was the future repercussions we were afraid of.

It's kind of scary that Powell would think that one month of revelry was worth everything we're facing now.

You know what I really think? That one of the reasons that Rumsfeld and Co. were in favor of this raid, is that they could go in during the chaos and round up all their old allies, like Saddam, because they had too much information on them. I bet some of those people in Gitmo are really old contacts that knew too much.

[snappyturtle]

27. I agree with you that some of the prisoners in Gitmo probably

know too much.....Imho we couldn't hang Saddam fast enough for the same reason.

[jtrockville]

25. I damn near popped a blood vessel when I heard that.

No, Mr. Powell, not everyone cheered. Certainly not I. You see, to me, "living in peace" means a committment to resolve conflicts without using violence. That's not what happened in conflict with Saddam Hussein, so I was ashamed of the outcome. I did not think it was terrific.

Violence begets violence. It's a simple lesson most folks learn when they're children, or at least when they become parents. Anyone who thought our invasion was a terrific outcome had surly not yet learned the lesson.

[snappyturtle]

26. No, we did not think this was a terrific outcome, of course we didn't

drink the Koolaid either. When I saw him on tv yesterday I asked my husband, "Where has he been? We haven't seen him in months? And, why is he coming out now?" He's been very quiet for a long time and now all of a sudden he's on MTP! Something is up.

[GeorgeGist]

30. Wrong again Colin ...

you are a disgrace to everybody; especially yourself.

[On the Road]

31. There Was a Lot of Opposition Before the War Started

but in the aftermath of the US blitzkreig victory, criticism was a bit muted. Anyone who wasn't basking in the temporary victory found it difficult to make their voice heard. So in a restricted sense, by narrowing the window of time, Powell has a certain point.

[Jim Lane]

36. Yes, Powell has a point in the sense that the critics couldn't make themselves heard

I will give him another small point in this respect: I certainly wasn't part of some alleged "everybody" that joined the cheering, and I thought things would turn out badly -- but I didn't think they'd turn out this badly. Powell's right to the extent that I, like others, was too optimistic. I expected a very bad outcome. I didn't expect this total catastrophe.

So, rating Powell's accuracy on a scale of one to ten, I'll generously give him a two, not a one.

[loyalsister]

37. I agree

AND if Bush had gotten surrounding countries involved, he had somehow managed to be a true diplomat, etc... this war may have been perceived as a major success by a majority.

[Downtown Hound]

32. No Powell, not everybody. n/t

[GreenArrow]

33. what's the big deal?

Just as with Hank Kissinger, we'll be hearing from him from a long time.

[Hissyspit]

34. More false "we" meme.

Same as "If WE had known then, what WE know now."

[Vickers]

35. Speak for yourself, you murdering sack of shit.

Anybody who thought that this was a good idea is an idiot.

[endarkenment]

38. "everybody ": rich and powerful beltway crowd.

Some of us were observing that things were not so sanguine as the Bullshit Media System was making out, that in all likelihood we would be seen as a foreign and heathen occupying army, and that the latest sport among young Iraqi men would likely be killing our soldiers.

And the insurgency was already in progress at that time.

You just had to actually be paying attention.

[FrenchieCat]

40. Just to keep perspective.....

Not content with expressing support for Powell’s speech, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina indicated his retroactive support for the Bush administration, saying that he has “long argued that Saddam Hussein is a grave threat and that he must be disarmed. Iraq’s behavior during the past few months has done nothing to change my mind.” Edwards commented, “Secretary of State Powell made a powerful case. This is a real challenge for the Security Council to act.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/feb2003/dems-f08.shtml

[BootinUp]

41. troublemaker, lol. n/t

[bvar22]

42. Poppy Bush KNEW too!

"Trying to eliminate Saddam ... would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible ... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq ... there was no viable 'exit strategy' we could see, violating another of our principles... Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land." (1998)
Source: A World Transformed---George HW “Poppy” Bush 1998

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

43. Those of us on this board

before the invasion were fairly unanimous in our belief this was the wrong way to go. General Powell is trying to cover his ass.
This is what is so frustrating about the invasion. So many of us knew it for what it was, a bald faced attempt to sieze power and resources. But as they leep up with this other message (tell a lie long enough....) people begin to believe it.

[Canuckistanian]

45. "a terrific outcome"? It was premeditated murder.

Saddam and Iraq never did one thing to harm America.

In fact, Saddam was doing the US a favor by keeping the radical Islamic element in check.

There were no WMDs. THEY KNEW there were no WMDs.

But, still, they bombed. And bombed. And bombed.

Until Baghdad's (and other cities') infrastructure was totally destroyed. Thousands killed.

And for what? A substitution of a brutal, yet stable dictatorship for total anarchy.

And that anarchy WAS predicted. By GHW Bush and Defence Secretary Dick Cheney.

They knew.

Thus, it was premeditated.