Powell aides go public on rift with Bush

[pinkpops]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1210391,00.html

Their candour suggests that the internecine battles within the administration are becoming increasingly bitter and open, particularly those between the departments of defence and the state. "None of Powell's friends had made any pretence of speculating about or guessing at his feelings," wrote the journalist, Wil Hylton. "They spoke for him openly and on the record."

An on the Chickenhawks:

Mr Wilkerson even makes jibes at the war record of Mr Bush's inner circle, comparing their desire for military conflict with their reluctance to serve as young men: "I make no bones about it. I have some reservations about people who have never been in the face of battle, so to speak, who are making cavalier decisions about sending men and women out to die."

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. The civil war is now in the open folks

[pinkpops]

2. preface to Rummy's departure?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. May, orPowell is getting ready to do in public

what I suspected he has done in private

Make no mistake there is a civil war INSIDE our government at the
highest levels... the GQ article convinced me of that

[robbob]

15. Sounds like he's bailing

and THAT'S gotta be a good thing

[ronnykmarshall]

22. He's already said no to another term.

I wounder if he's gonna jump ship early?

[FlemingsGhost]

Trust Powell and his "good soldier" shine, at your peril.

This is all too convenient...

[teryang]

4. "It's a source of great distress"

...to be a caught lying your ass off to start a war in which thousands are maimed and killed for nothing.

It's too late for this guy. He's finished. His pathetic little PR machine isn't going to save credibility he doesn't have. Time to retire and write books and collect six figures serving as a corporate director for tax avoiders and arms dealers. He's the civilized PR mouthpiece for a barbarous regime. But he's one of them and there is no concealing it.

[54anickel]

5. Perhaps he's beginning to worry about his soul. Cancer will do that to

a person sometimes. Makes you think about mortality. :shrug:

[teryang]

6. He's beyond good and evil

You have to be to play the Faustian roles.

[Tellurian]

7. Highlights:

"Mr Powell's deputy, Richard Armitage, remarks on his boss's anguish at the damage to his credibility following his speech to the United Nations last year making the case for war and insisting there were weapons of mass destruction. "It's a source of great distress for the secretary," he said.:

Yep, I can see him feeling that way.
They shat all over Powell and turned
him inside out. The degrading thing...

"Meanwhile his mentor from the National War College, Harlan Ullman, describes the US national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, as a "jerk"."

...a single word describes
this delusional, lonely maiden.

[bvar22]

8. Daylight come....

...and me wann go hooommme!

[The Zanti Regent]

9. Belafonte was right.

Powell is the most incompetent asshole Secretary of State ever.

and that goes double for his son Stepin Fetchitt Jr at the FCC!

[PurityOfEssence]

10. No quarter, enabler

For whatever reasons, Powell threw his lot in with these primitives many years ago. Although nowhere near brilliant, he's smart enough to know that they were monarchists and bullies bent on sustaining a dominant economic class at all costs. If he didn't know the lengths to which they'd go, he did know enough that were well beyond the pale of decency.

He deserves no pity, no succor, no refuge and especially no sanctuary. The man knew full well that he was presenting lies to justify a bloody war of conquest that was both unjustified and wildly reckless for the entire world. Having experienced combat first-hand, he is even more guilty for his part in engineering this slaughter than the privileged hucksters who hatched the plan. As such, he is deeply morally guilty on every level. His only options are this: stay, and prove his insatiable ego some more in a futile attempt to stave off the obvious, or leave and accept the ignominy he deserves.

There's no excuse. He knew what kind of people these were, he helped them in their wicked exploits and he tried to have it both ways. As such, he's one of the worst kind of weasels, the one who tries to maintain some kind of rectitude in the midst of pillage and flood-tide greed.

He's a shameful liar of the soul, and I hope he lives long enough to experience the rage of those he respects and the humiliation he's due. His options are all bad now, and I hope he twists in the wind.

There is nothing good about this man; he's the most misunderstood and overrated person on the public stage in recent memory. I'm still shocked by the people who think this is a good person; he's a rapacious and calculated automaton with a thirst for fame and an unwillingness to lead. When it counted, he served the forces of hate, and he can take his toadying little flunky of a son with him.

[daleo]

11. That sums it up

He and Blair were instrumental in selling the war in the early days, they knew full well what that meant.

[cliss]

12. Really nice post, poe.

And I agree with you. There's no picking up redemption, not now.

I wrote in another post that Colon could have waited it out. He could have given it a few more years and let this evil cadre blow itself out. Instead, he tied his fate with them because he believed in them.

I truly believe that. He wasn't so necessary that the war machinery needed him to be the buffer between the Bush Legion and the rest of the world.

He used every ounce of personal prestige or good-will that he himself built up over the years. He traded it in as political capital and squandered it on a group of foaming-at-the-mouth lunatics who had the world as their prey.

No sympathy from me.

[oblivious]

13. Wow! That's a helluva post!!!

One of the best I've ever read, PoE.

[bobbyboucher]

14. Bravo!

Well said and I couldn't agree more. Powell sold his soul.

[lumpy]

24. Powell sold his soul

at MyLie

[joeunderdog]

18. Right on. And now his pals are trying to backwards engineer character.

Too late. The nobility of this coward escapes me. A soldier lying to send men to their deaths for the shallowest of reasons...this is your legacy, Colin? Hope you're proud of what you've done. You sold this war and you sold your soul. Too late to say you didn't want this thing.

What's next?...the book tour "Why I Never Wanted to Go to the War I Lied to Create."

[JohnOneillsMemory]

23. Yup. HE'S STILL COVERING UP THE US COUP IN HAITI!! FUCKER! n/t

[Tiberius]

25. there's nothing to add to this

There's no way it could really be said any better.

[Manix]

16. ..too little, too late.....history won't be kind.

[dbt]

17. Let the Truth come out.

Let the Truth about the Bush Administration come out.
Let all the facts come out immediately.
Let them instantly be known by all, far and wide.

If we will all ask for this, it will happen. It began to happen when Will Pitt organized his Karmic Focus gatherings over in the Lounge. It needs to happen again. The whole of the Administration's plans, dealings and agendas needs to be laid out in the light for the entire world to see.

Ask for it sincerely, with no thoughts of judgement or punishment--because you don't want the blowback from that.

dbt

[Justice]

19. What is really stunning about Powell's behavior is he squandered

the broad support he had with the American people. Powell had a real choice - support Bush or take the real story to the American people.

IMO, Powell could have been president in 2000 - he enjoyed more support (bipartisan) than Gore and Bush in the early days of the 2000 campaign. Reports were that Powell declined to run, saying that what he really wanted - and all he wanted -- was SOS.

Remember during the recount when Bush started leaking that Powell would be SOS - in an attempt to increase Bush's stature? At that point, it was Powell helping Bush's image --

So Powell had a real choice, not just a hypothetical one. Powell could have come out publicly last year and stated his concerns about the evidence - Americans would have supported Powell because people trusted him. Heck, I remember thinking when I heard Powell was going to the UN that there must be some evidence there because Powell would not lie. I was quite shocked to hear nothing new in his speech. That's when I lost all respect for him.

Anyway, my point is just that Powell was the one person in the administation who could have come out to the American people and said - stop, wait, something is not right with this evidence - and people would have believed him. So I hold him accountable in many ways - because he supposedly was to know better, and he had the means (his influence) to make a difference.

[pinkpops]

20. yessir

yep, yep, yep
Amen

[soleft]

21. kick