Report begins: "Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has told the Mainichi [a major newspaper in Japan] he believes the Iraq War - which began while he was in office in 2003 - could have been averted."
Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council five weeks before the US-led invasion of Iraq, 02/05/03. (photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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Cheney & Rumsfeld were fully aware that war could not be sold without bogus WMD's. So bogus WMD's were created from whole cloth and sold to a frightened nation by means of outright lies and persistent innuendos. Condi Rice lied. Wolfowitz lied. They all lied because Cheney wanted to reform the world in the image of his own nightmares.
The worst crime of the century goes un-investigated .
How lacking in courage to say he was just the conduit for the cooked intelligence, that he didn't make it up. He had plenty of clues that the intelligence was based on bogus sources and reliance on forged documents. The truth was staring him in the face but was not going to allow him to keep his job if he did not go along to get along.
Kennedy took credit for compiling 'profiles in courage.' When we get a similar book called 'Profiles in Cowardice,' Colin Powell will have to be in the top ten.
Powell's presentation was transparently flawed, but the politicians, including many Dems, didn't have the courage to say so. It is very difficult to believe that Powell didn't know the material he was presenting was nonsense.
I'm one of the inspectors who knew there were no weapons of mass destruction - at least no nuclear weapons and not enough, if any, chemical and biological weapons to matter. But the Republican politicians in my state wouldn't listen either.
Powell started his career lying for the Army command in 'Nam. He ended it lying for the White House. I'll sing no sad songs for him.
History is filled with figures such as Powell who are flattered by those with evil intent into putting a pleasant face on crimes against humanity. Obama may be doing that now in Afghanistan. Obama seems to lack the courage to uphold his convictions. He should have learned from Powell's mistakes. We know he has every reason to know better and we have to wonder who or what has him in chains. There is somewhere a Delilah to his Samson.
But oh, no, millions of women & children had to die and be injured - a country wrecked. Now, here we are; broke.
Now look at you! You SOLD your integrity to the wrong people.
Perhaps the conclusion that could be drawn from Powell's sad example is that perhaps military men with their loyalty-to-the- commander-at-al l-costs ethic don't necessarily make the best civilian officials in a representative democracy.
Cheney and Bush were oil men and that is exactly what that whole thing boiled down to...oil. Rove??, he was just an evil power-hungry SOB anxious to make a plan, any plan.
The only thing good that could have possibly come from any of this would have been to hope that the American people would not be so easily duped again but alas I fear that is not to be either. Between S. Palin, the tea baggers, Beck et al, it appears there are still plenty out there willing to believe in WMD's all over again.
Mitchel Cohen
Brooklyn Greens / Green Party
I'd been reading European news which had far better accounts as to the reality of the scam and talked for a half-hour with Major and Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter in August 2002.
The Senate voted with Bush because of his successful propaganda, the "you're with us or you're with the terrorists," crap. Only one Democrat who was up for reelection voted against the October 2002 resolution, Paul Wellstone.
The inspectors were in Iraq. The U.S. told them to leave because we were going to start bombing. They hadn't found anything, despite exhaustive searches.
Bush later did a White House press conference with Kofi Annan. Asked why he invaded, Bush said because Saddam wouldn't let the inspectors in. Dubya only parroted nonsense written by Cheney's crew.
Strange how coincidence works, huh?
You can google Paul Wellstone and find out what you can do to help his convictions and actions continue.
And, in the future, if you really want to know what is going on in the world, do, as Pancho did, read world news providers, not American news agencies. Americans have the real facts filtered out of the news they receive and what we receive are partial truths and outright lies to manipulate what we think so that we will support those in power.
Either you are a liar, or our "intelligence community" is filled with fools, or both.
Bush was determined to have his war.
Heck, we didn't have to go to war in Afghanistan either. The Taliban had agreed to turn Bin Laden over to a neutral third party for prosecution, and GWB refused. He said that he wanted to get Bin Laden himself.
I think that Powell's State team and "baseball president" "W." were handled by Cheney.
"By Cheney" means thru the CIA and its boss. The dominant intel agency was the Defense Department including "Rummy" Wolfowitz and out/in-sider Pearle.
Powell was "kept in the dark and fed ______!" And W was led by his nose - to be the "heroic and strong" Commander and Chief "military-savio r!"
Let's talk about what "Commander and Chief" really means. To be "top-general" and military action executor or promoter? Or, "controller" of the Department of Defense - and the vice-president as in this case.
Principals in this case were Cheney and Rummy - along with all other advocates of ""walk"-in-to" the "axis of evil" guys like "hawks for Israel", Israeli hawks, get-Sadam-out Iraqis, etc who couldn't pull it off without Cheney-oil-inc and Rummy - and blocking Gore or Maverick from office.
are we supposed to believe that this political general was so dumb he had no clue as to what the crazy power-mad neocons were up to? maybe if he was dumb enough to pursue a career in the military he really was that stupid re iraq. but if colin p were to scrub toilets with a toothbrush for the rest of his life i still couldn't forgive him and his blind ambition.
He'll say that My Lai could have been avoided, but that the best intelligence we had was that the 500 women and children our troops murdered were terrorists. So nobody committed a crime.
(The System Works!)
That entire administration should be prosecuted and incarcerated -- or hung!
He and Bush should be indicted for murder. It is fraudulent murder to trick someone (like our soldiers) into dying.
It is not and never will be too late to indict them. There is no statute of limitations for the crime of murder.
We're certainly easy to fool, even with stories as harebrained as WMD.
-Parts of the DOD that executed the great con game and co-operated.
-Parts of the CIA leadership that co-operated.
-All - I think - Republicans in Congress/Senate - remember: "freedom fries" - ok, except a few.
-Almost all Dems in Congress/Senate - except more than a few braver souls.
-Former big-shots like William Clinton who ignorantly advocated the "cake-walk" war.
-A whole lot of pundits.
-A whole lot of American civilians - not all - not me.
Lets remember the extremely wise objectors who were ignored - starting with W's father and his team. And then "that team" did such an excellent job of - both - getting "global" support for "kicking Sadam out or Kuwait and then that Gulf War One excellent execution.
It is pretty much lies all the way down, and has been during quite a few presidential administrations . The U.S. is guilty of the deaths of literally millions thanks to these lies.
Reminds me of a cowboy movie. The U.S. as the bad guy shooter, rolls into town, baits another guy, throws a gun out on the ground, tells the other guy to pick it up. PICK IT UP. As soon as the other guy picks it up... Well you know the results. We've all seen the movie.
We can largely thank Obama and Nancy Pelosi for refusing to indict Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al for war crimes. It may take decades, but it can still happen.
They lied to our poor boys to get them to go die for oil.'
They both should be tried for murder.
No, you did not and you know it. All the stuff you presented at the UN came from a single source, Curveball, that the German intelligence had told you was lying out his butt. The weapons inspectors told you that there were no WMD and you went to war anyhow. You even hurried the war by kicking out the inspectors when it became painfully obvious that the excuse you were using, WMD, was false. So your statement that if there had been proof that no WMD existed, there would have been no war, is blatantly false. Continuing to make excuses for yourself just besmirches your reputation even worse than it already is.
Bush began planning for that war as soon as he went into office and only needed some half-baked excuse to start it. He wanted to be a war president and wasn't going to pass up the opportunity no matter what happened, and you know it.
The 'fix' was in and the facts were going to be manufactured to meet the end goal. When 'Bush & Company' believe the ends justify the means, you get Iraq. Anyone who questioned the 'facts' were manipulated out of the picture. Just look at what happened to Wilson and his wife.
Currently, the 'just say no' republicans, want to take 'credit' for 'solutions' to problems that they created in the first place. Ain't that a kick in the head! The fox is saying that the chicken made me eat it.
The Emperor has no clothes. The King is in the all-together, as naked as the day that he was born.
Many thousands of dead or maimed people.
The explanation? Oops, we made a mistake.
The US is spending many millions on so called intelligence. We are not getting much for our money. Some of our industries are cashing in big. I think that is the answer.
Reliable counter information-to- the-contrary was available on the internet: there would be no WMD's or WMD programs found and Saddam's Iraq had had no dealings with Al Qaida. Loud voices of caution came from around the world, but we ignored them.
As Secretary of State, Powell had tools and personnel to track down the truth, but he didn't! Later, as the Iraq situation devolved into the wanton destruction of non-military targets and caused the death, disfigurement and displacement of 5,000,000 Iraqis, he remained silent & loyal to men who, by rights, should be brought up on charges of war crimes. Unfortunately, Colin Powell's legacy is one of shame.
You better not show up in Europe in the near future because you may be held responsible for that one by the international court in The Hague (remember Mr Pinochet?)
In my opinion, Powell has a heavy burden of guilt: If he had had the courage of his convictions to resign before the invasion, it could have prevented the war. Powell had the respect and attention of the American people at that time.
Very sad: a missed opportunity for the world.
The Colin Powell I thought I knew was an honest man who could be relied upon to do the right thing.
Today as I look at Colin Powell I see a man who has the blood of very many humans dripping from his soul. He missed the opportunity to do good in this World when he became just another Liar in the G.W.Bush administration. In his position he was being paid by the Soldiers and the American people to always tell the truth.
He failed miserably. I once loved you Colin Powell but that feeling in my heart is all History Now. Just perhaps you can redeem yourself by joining me and asking that the Republicans pay for their lies in November.
Help us elect Honest Democrats who will now do the right things for the American people!
I think he’s lying when he says he was misled. He is pretending to have been fooled.
We will not recover until we can find a way to expiate our collective guilt and put these worst of the worst criminals on trial. I sense no national will to do either. We are our own worst enemy in so many ways.
Which is why, so far it would be impossible to indict the criminals in the Bush adm.
There is no way the republicans would go along, and the democrats sure can not do it alone. When Obama took office we were "FALLING off a CLIFF" financially.
It would totally have broken up the country if his justice department had indicted anybody in the Bush adm. Too bad.
No, Mr Powell, you blew it. You're a war criminal, just like the rest of that crowd.
60 Minutes - 2003
By continuing to lie about events leading up to the illegal Iraq invasion, Powell is only exposing how very complicit he was in giving the Bush-Cheney war machine the false propaganda they needed to justify their illegal war.
Powell is not only a coward but a traitor to his oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. He belongs in jail.
invaded Kuwait, and then told Saddam to get his butt out, Poppy would become the hero to the Kuwait's, and gain control of the oil. Invading Iraq was out of spite in which a country was destroyed and millions died. I'm sure Powell knew.
I'll never forget Rumsfeld saying on NBC evening news, "They (WMDs) are here. We KNOW they are here. Just a matter of time to find them.
America. We KNOW who the war criminals are.
Where is international court - Haague - for these criminals?
1. Once his UN presentation was proved to be factually and morally wrong, why didn't he immediately do the right things: admit his answerability and resign from the Bush Administration?
2. Why did he wait almost a decade to even mention the obscenely expensive Iraq war whose degree of disaster has yet to be estimated?
3. Why broach the subject in Japan, of all places? Why not in America, to Americans?
4. What’s wrong with dumping the whole truth today, right here in the USA? Shame? Liability?
The world is waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I don't buy this apologist nonsense that the "intelligence was just wrong." I mean, really. *All* the intelligence sources the US has access to were "just wrong?" Or, more likely, was it just those that the administration wanted to believe? As if military and foreign intelligence assessments were just so black and white with no gray areas inherent.
Powell sacrificed integrity for the sake of expediency and his own ambition. He could have called "BS" prior to the invasion and stopped the whole thing. He could have resigned. But he didn't. He acted as a shill for GWB.
At least the British Foreign Secretary had the stones to resign in the fallout of the storm of lies surrounding Iraq.
How does the campaign get started? America needs to try to bring these criminals to justice!
My sentiments exactly!
"It was the intelligence that was wrong. I did not make up this information; I did not invent it; I did not pull it out of the air. It was information that our intelligence community stood behind," he stated.
NO, he plagiarized that "intelligence" verbatim from grad student's paper. Remember? Then when the source was discovered and the heat was turned up for an explanation, suddenly the media was more interested in telling people to prepare for a nuclear attack by buying duct tape, than holding Powell accountable. Even though the duct tape scare was laughed off by almost everyone, the deed was done; the national attention had been successfully diverted. Brilliant move, Meister Rove.
Tony Blair, Colin Powell, Ms. Rice; All needed T-shirts that said "I'm With Stupid".... But what did that make them?
Who is paying the price for all of the wrongs perpetrated and who were and still are, the big winners?
Shame on Pelosi, Obama and others for allowing that type of outcome. I have nobody on my list that's worthy of my vote.
No, no, no! You MUST vote.
Unfortunately, I think his role in the GW administration was more powerful than he realized. His presence gave the entire regime legitimacy it did not otherwise deserve.
He should feel guilty for his involvement in a corrupt regime. If he had quit earlier, it would have encouraged more dissent, among the media and the Democrats. I do not believe as the press does that government officials are naive about their actions. He should have known better, and indeed he did.
Alas, his mistake is greatly overshadowed by many many others in Cheney/Bush regime.
JFK still withdrew forces from "Nam." They would have settled on invading Cuba, but JFK turned that down as well.
In the case of Iraq, the deaths of 3,000 Americans was caused when 19 mostly Saudi Arabian terrorists, led by a CIA asset named bin Laden, took over jet airliners with missiles attached to their fuselages, and flew them into three buildings and a 10 foot wide hole in the ground, leaving no bodies or plane parts. And Bush, Cheney, Rummy, Powell and Condi sold this lemonade to a shocked nation.
The 9/11 Commission was "put together by those involved in much the same way as the Warren Commission was, and for similar reasons.
I for one would like to be able to live my life without the money people in charge trying to tell me how to live. I am like Diogenes walking around looking for an honest person.
Quoting bjw:
Powell's gain: Just remain with the IN ($$$$$) crowd.
His son worked for the FCC, he did not want to rock the boat just like his whole career of serving masters.
Sad But TRUE!
It's a shame that a man like Colin Powell allowed himself to be used by the GWB Administration. He tried to justify the lies his boss, GWB told him to convey the lies his Administration told him to repeat. Both GWB (the dumb one) and Powell (the smart one)were used by some of the most evil and insidious individuals on the planet.
These individuals, with the help of Colin Powell, open the door so that America (USA) would go on record and in the history books as being a nation ruled by war criminals and got away with without being prosecuted for it.
And because of it, Colin Powell will have to share in the blame by association.
In America, even decent good intentional human beings are fooled and used by evil beings!
Too bad, indeed.
That is a lie and Powell knows that it is a lie. Well before he made his infamous address which gave cachet to the Cheney-driven war hysteria, Powell's own State Department intelligence office had told him that the "evidence" for WMDs was bogus, manufactured by sources that were known to be unreliable, and peddled by activities with a vested interest in a war with Iraq. Powell went ahead anyway. He owed it to the Bush-Cheney administration for giving not only himself a high-profile job but also his ethically-chall enged son, who was appointed to chair the FCC.
Moral: The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.
Thank you very much!
Despite what you feel about Obama's ability to push a more progressive agenda (war crimes etc.) it is far more important to spread enthusiasm for having at least the possibility of a liberal agenda.
There are more Democrats than Republicans in this country. But it's only going to matter if that majority shows up at the polls this November.
It's time for everyone to get on message in this election:
Do you want the party that will rebuild America or the party that will give tax breaks to the rich?
Repeat after me,
Do you want the party that will rebuild America or the party that will give tax breaks to the rich?
Tell a friend, spread the word, get enthusiastic about Obama.
If you don't you won't even have the possibility of pursuing a progressive agenda because the party of NO will be back on top...
1.Powell's own internal state dept. intelligence--h is own people--told him the evidence wasn't there.
2. The article itself perpetuates the lie that saddam husein refused to allow inspections, something that hillary clinton also insists on repeating.
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