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Colin Powell: The Man of Integrity We Need
Many on the Left agree that Colin Powell was duped, that he didn't sell out. He tried to stand up to the neocons and lost the battle and then got buffaloed by the CIA, as did Kerry and many others. To many, especially people on the right, he still is a man of integrity. We need him to take a stand against the neocons.
He's given hints that he's avoided being more straightforward and in the limelight because his wife is too vulnerable to tolerate the storm that would necessarily follow. But this passionate American ought to reconsider and make plans to protect her as he comes out against McCain-Palin.
Ideally, he would begin by saying that he was misled and that, like MacNamara, he made a grievous mistake by failing to thoroughly investigate the intelligence he reported at the UN. He can add that he did oppose the war and was overruled. These statements would help re-establish his credibility with some people on the Left, which probably isn't very important now but may be later. Moreover, they would help the swing voters to get the point that he is truly a man of integrity and, therefore, credible.
Comments (11)
Powell is too much the good soldier. He's too used to following policy and not disposed to create it.
He could have resigned but felt he had to follow his commander. He knew he was being fed bullshit.
I would prefer a different type of person. Even a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs should be able to say "no", to say an idea is terminally dumb. True integrity would have meant resigning his commission.
September 16, 2008 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
See new book on Cheney titled "Angler" which details how Cheney strong-armed and lied to Dick Armey to get him to go along with the war with fabricated information making it look like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden were BFFs and that Saddam had made not just a suitcase nuke but a shoe phone/Blackberry/x-ray combo... chilling stuff.
I don't know whether Powell was strong-armed or duped or actively involved. I'd like to think that as a career military man, he held fast to something honorable.
September 16, 2008 10:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Powell has forever disqualified himself from any further JCS-type position becvause he failed to uphold his sworn duty to the Constitution and his implicit duty to the troops he once commanded. But I would love to see him earn back a little credibility by coming clean about pressure from the executive to 'fudge a little'.
September 16, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Powell's public Brand has been greatly tarnished.
September 16, 2008 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
All I care at THE MOMENT is that he endorses O at a convenient time to help put a stamp to Obama's landslide victory.
September 16, 2008 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Powell has absolutely NO credibility AT ALL.
Spineless. Showed his adminstration and bosses more loyalty than he did his country. Shame, Colin Powell, shame. Forever shamed.
September 16, 2008 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Despite that wretched turn at the UN that cinched the Bush-Cheney case for war, an endorsement from Powell could help Obama big-time. He should make it directly following the first debate, the one on foreign policy. He should emphasize that Palin is in way over her head.
The Dems should also run ads with two or three top former military types endorsing Obama and criticizing McCain's approaches. It could be Clark, Shinseki, McPeak, et al. Is Zinni on board with Obama? It would be great if he were and would speak out. (Last I heard he was avoiding politics.)
September 16, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Many on the Left agree that Colin Powell was duped, that he didn't sell out."
Oh, please! We asre to be immoral by lying about Powell now?
LEARN the facts: Colin Powell was the FIRST person to investigate -- and COVER-UP -- the My Lai massacre. He has all along had about as much character and integrity as Bush and McCain and Palin.
And his lying to the US, UN, and wolrd, was THE factor that greased the skids for Bushit's illegal invasion and illegal occupation of Iraq. And in so doing, he KNEW he was THORWING AWAY the lives of his troops for A LIE.
Only a whore would want the endorsement of that a/immoral swine. Integrity does not seek the support of the reprehensible.
September 16, 2008 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hate political neophytes who not only don't know the history and the facts, but also appear willing to LIE about them.
". . . he made a grievous mistake by failing to thoroughly investigate the intelligence he reported at the UN."
Powell admitted that he LIED -- it was HE, and his chief of staff Wilkerson, who put together the presentation to the UN. Unless he lies, he can't claim he was misled because he WASN'T.
That's why he and Wilkerson are estranged: Wilkerson has been investigating the issue, and has been telling the truth about his findings. Powell would rather pretend he doesn't have his head both up his ass and stuck in the sand.
Powell is one of the biggest phonies in the Republican hierarchy.
September 16, 2008 7:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's the media spin about powell and then there's reality .
My Lai that's the obvious one , then there's working under Casper Weinberger , helping to arrange the missiles for hostages deal w/ Israel . Then there is the fraudulent invasion of Panama , that killed over 5 thousand civilians, when he was chairman of Joint chiefs of staff , telling Saudi Arabia Saddam was mounting an invasion on their country (to get bases in S.A. , a complete lie, proved by satellite photos from the St. Petersburg Times . The lies that he told at the UN, no he wasn't fooled by the CIA , the centrifuges were to small for nuclear weapons and the mobile weapon labs had canvas sides unstable for bio weapons, as reported by the Guardian the NEXT day .
You mean he didn't have the capability to verify anything or even GOOGLE anything , give me a break.
Since powell was recruited by Frank Carlucci (founder of Carlye), he has been part of the " white security system " , just read Robert Parry's investigation of Powell , who is a disgrace and fraud.
September 16, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
What I'm interested in here is getting Obama-Biden elected because that would, I believe, be infinitely better for this country and the world than would the election of McCain-Palin. Powell's record may indeed be as bad as people here say. But if he can help stop the Disaster That Is McCain-Palin, then let's hope he does so.
September 16, 2008 9:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
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