Colin Powell Visits Chicago: A “Coulda Been” If There Ever Was One
In his recent keynote speech at the National School Board Association’s annual conference in Chicago, Colin Powell remarked:
Now, American troops must “stick with the people of Iraq” until order is restored, he said.”
My derision follows, as always, after the jump…
Colin Powell could have been one of the greatest American politicians of all time. The man could have been President.
Instead, he is now a man with no credibility, no principle and no respect.
Colin Powell could have been the voice of reason within an administration bent on war. His dual experience at State and DOD, as well as his military service in Viet Nam and Gulf War 1 could have lent him the gravitas necessary to urge caution without appearing “soft” (the greatest fear for any Republican, apparently. Stupid as a shitload of bricks? Fine. Perceived to be “soft?” Forget politics buddy, you might as well be a Muslim).
Instead, he stood before the UN and delivered lie after lie in order to justify the invasion of Iraq. Remember them mobile weapons labs? Yeah, well, turns out Bush, Powell, hell, EVERYBODY knew they didn’t exist, yet used them as a pretext anyways. That’s what you call lying, folks.
Instead of standing firm, he lost in the internecine conflicts between State and Defense during the runup to the war in Iraq, and well, we all know where that’s led us.
And yet even today, long after Powell has left the corridors of power, and while more and more Generals are beginning to come out and state their opposition to the war in Iraq, we get the nonsense quoted above from Powell.
He is correct in stating there were serious mistakes- the serious mistake was undertaking a fool’s gambit like invading Iraq in the first place.
The serious mistake was believing George W. Bush when he said he sought peace instead of war.
The mistake was America voting this violent imbecile into office not once, but twice.
The mistake was not that “we didn’t have enough troops.”
The mistake was not that “we didn’t impose our will.” (Whatever the fuck that means.)
The mistake was not that we “let” the insurgency get “out of control.”
The mistake was in a failure to recognize the consequences of a half-baked invasion plan; the mistake was creating the very conditions which lend themselves to the rise of an insurgency.
And after all those mistakes, Powell urges America to, wait for it…”stick with the people of Iraq.” Sure, why not? If we find ourselves in a deep hole we dug ourselves, why not try to dig ourselves out? As Homer Simpson said, “Dig UP!”
Three full years and counting after the invasion of Iraq, and Colin Powell STILL cannot tell the American people the truth, and own up to his role in the greatest American foreign policy fuck-up since Viet Nam.
Colin, be a fucking man. Tell the people the truth.
I agree whole-heartedly in the great disappointment of Colin Powell. I know good people who trusted his word: liberals, Democrats, people of reason who supported the war in Iraq because of his speech and his convictions (those who weren’t simple Loyalists and Apologists). For that, Colin Powell is, to me, beyond forgiveness, I find him to be a repulsive figure in this entire debacle. He knew better, and yet he played the role and read the script like a good soldier, and for what? Eventually he will write a book and it will talk of his mistakes and gloss over his faulty reasoning and people will respect his pseudo-candor, but Colin Powell will never be a man who owns up to the truth. His credibility is long gone. Blood is on his hands. I have noting but contempt for this loyal soldier.
Fuck Colin Powell.