Why did many of us respect Powell (before he went before the UN)?

[shawn703]

I found this tidbit on this website. http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/reagan.htm
Doesn't sound like much I'd respect him for anyway...


COLIN POWELL. In 1968, as a staff army major in Vietnam, Colin Powell played a direct role in suppressing the inquiry into the My Lai massacre, and into related atrocities against civilians. As a White House fellow during the Watergate years he earned a reputation -- but only for keeping his mouth shut.

As a military assistant to Caspar Weinberger during the Reagan administration, he helped to deceive Congress about the trading in heavy weapons with Iran, about the exchange of those weapons for hostages, and about the diversion of the illicit proceeds to finance another illicit operation in Nicaragua.

In Panama, in 1989, he helped shape an operation that totally disregarded international law and took many civilian lives.

During the Gulf War, he strongly opposed any military help for the Kurdish and Shia rebellions against Saddam Hussein.

In the Bosnian conflict, he publicly opposed any intervention against Slobodan Milosevic and his forcible creation of a "Greater Serbia."

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Bill Clinton, he repeatedly intervened to influence political decisions, not only about the Balkans but about the right of homosexuals to serve in the military. Click here to read more about this particular member of George W. Bush's circle.

[TheDebbieDee]

1. He does sound kind of scummy, doesn't he?

Wasn't it President Jimmy Carter that got him promoted to General?

[billbuckhead]

2. First media successful black General

Charismatic, articulate, politcally astute. Unfortunately he got ahead by paticipating in the MyLai and Iran-contra coverups.

[leftofthedial]

3. gullible victims of the murkan PR industry

one and all

[Eloriel]

4. Because we didn't know about his role in covering up My Lai

or any of the other stuff. And because he was a well-spoken, attractive, dignified general in the U.S. Army.

[Rambis]

6. Respect and Colon Blow- Oxi what Rush?

OxiMoran!

[Cha]

5. I never liked him..I didn't buy into that

..AND anybody who is a republican is suspect until proven otherwise, in my book.

I'm more of a Harry Belafonte fan.

[jrthin]

7. I've never liked nor

respected Powell. Here's a man who benefited from affirmative action but hitched his wagon to a party who is dead set on destroying it.

[lectrobyte]

8. He seemed intelligent, articulate, and very outspoken about not

getting caught up in quagmires (google "Powell Doctrine"). I seem to remember he was credited with helping to make the decision to not go into Iraq in Gulf War I, but I may be misremembering. In any case, he seemed like a moderate, sane person of integrity, especially compared to the rest of *'s selections.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. Just to clarify Colon's role in the My Lai "coverup"

I know the charge is frequently made that Colin Powell covered up the My Lai massacre. With regards to the My Lai coverup, however, according to this article He was never charged with investigating the My Lai massacre nor did he have a direct role in attempting to coverup My Lai.

Apparently he was ordered to investigate other charges of US Army war crimes that had been brought to the attention of General Abrams, Commander of US forces in Viet Nam, in a letter by a US GI, Tom Glen.

Maj. Powell, it appears, made no serious efforts to investigate Glen's charges and did not even interview Glen or assign any one on his staff to interview Glen. His final report, or as some would say "whitewash," concluded Glen's charges were unfounded and there was no widespread or systematic abuse of civilians or abusive treatment of Viet Cong prisoners as Glen had charged in his letter.

Glen had never mentioned the My Lai massacre in his letter to Gen. Abrams as he only brought up instances of abuse that he himself had witnessed. However, he did say later on that he had heard rumours about the My Lai incident and it is felt by some that if Colon had done a proper job of investigating Glen's charges, it is very likely that he would have uncovered the details about what had happened at My Lai at the same time. Instead the messy details surrounding My Lai were kept hidden away until another US infantryman, Ron Ridenhour, raised a stink about it and got the IG's office to investigate.

Glen's letter echoed some of the complaints voiced by early advisers, such as Col. John Paul Vann, who protested the self-defeating strategy of treating Vietnamese civilians as the enemy. In 1995, when we questioned Glen about his letter, he said he had heard second-hand about the My Lai massacre, though he did not mention it specifically. The massacre was just one part of the abusive pattern that had become routine in the division, he said.

Maj. Powell's Response
The letter's troubling allegations were not well received at Americal headquarters. Maj. Powell undertook the assignment to review Glen's letter, but did so without questioning Glen or assigning anyone else to talk with him. Powell simply accepted a claim from Glen's superior officer that Glen was not close enough to the front lines to know what he was writing about, an assertion Glen denies.

After that cursory investigation, Powell drafted a response on Dec. 13, 1968. He admitted to no pattern of wrongdoing. Powell claimed that U.S. soldiers in Vietnam were taught to treat Vietnamese courteously and respectfully. The Americal troops also had gone through an hour-long course on how to treat prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions, Powell noted.

"There may be isolated cases of mistreatment of civilians and POWs," Powell wrote in 1968. But "this by no means reflects the general attitude throughout the Division." Indeed, Powell's memo faulted Glen for not complaining earlier and for failing to be more specific in his letter.


www.consortiumnews.com/archive/colin3.html