Colin Powell turned his back on us. Keith Olberman didn't.

[Cyrano]

I've been thinking about Colin Powell and Keith Olberman.

Keith Olberman's speech the other night was an Edward R. Murrow moment. But there was, IMO, a moment when our current nightmare might have been avoided. It was the moment when Colin Powell lied to the U.N. and to all of us, and decided to go along with BushCo and their never-ending river of lies. And he did it with full knowledge of what he was doing.

Before our Iraq disaster began, he was perhaps the one person on the face of the earth who might have been able to head it off. Colin Powell was the most (perhaps only) respected statesman in this diseased administration who had the standing, position and respect to possibly stop the insanity before it started.

He knew we were being fed a ton of lying crap and he could not have helped but know what was being done by Bush/Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld and Co. Yet, for some reason I'll never fathom, he said nothing.

Colin Powell has more than demonstrated his battlefield courage and love of country. Yet, at a time in our national history when we needed a champion, he kept silent and went along. It may not have made a difference since the demented vermin who currently hold all the power, have "swift boated" everyone who has ever spoken up. But Powell was in a unique position.

Imagine if Colin Powell, (the Secretary of State at the time), had stood up and told us the truth and how we were being screwed over. He was a respected giant surrounded by malignant dwarfs. Who do you suppose we would have believed? I think that most people in this country, and the rest of the world, would have spit on BushCo and trusted Colin Powell.

I wonder if he ever thinks that he might have prevented the countless deaths that have occurred since the day he decided that being loyal to his "president" was more important than being faithful to his oath of office and to his own honor. That may be an unfair statement, but it's one that the Colin Powell that existed, before this "war" got started, must ask himself.

Keith Olberman is our modern day Edward R. Murrow. And Colin Powell is a man who may have achieved greatness by throwing himself in the way of an oncoming fascist state. (But then hindsight really is 20 20.)

There was a time I saw Powell as a great man. I looked up to him and admired him. Unfortunately, I believe he sold his soul at a crucial moment that just might have made a difference. And the world will never be the same.

[MessiahRp]

1. He's a Republican. They have no souls. eom

[stopbush]

2. Powell a great man? When? He's always toed the party line.

For an alternate history of the great man, go here: http://www.usvetdsp.com/story13.htm

[asjr]

3. I totally agree. Whatever

prestige or prominence he ever possessed is long gone. At one time I did admire him.

[blm]

4. I don't trust Powell, but according to Wilkerson WH was lying to him, too

and they had him believing he was influencing them and they'd give him a fair hearing - this is what Powell imparted to those senators he knew well.

They used him - he let them by believing they cared what he thinks.

[patricia92243]

5. I thought , at the time, he really believed what he was saying. SINCE

then, he has admitted he was lied to. Is this not correct? I sure thought it is what happened.

One way or the other, he stood a good chance of being our first black president. Now that is not going to happen.

Also, what has KO got to do with it? I must be missing something????

[Cyrano]

14. Olberman stood up for what we are about. Powell didn't and he could

have made a difference.

My hope is that others rush through the door that Olberman has opened after so many years of media cowardice.

[acmavm]

6. Powell NEVER had the potential to be anything but the

pathetic lackey that he is.

Check out Colon and his attempted cover-up of the My Lai massacre.

[Options Remain]

7. correct but HE didn't know that

n/t

[Jacobin]

8. Of course he knew

He knew he was widely respected by the populace as having been successful in GW I.

He had written a book (I forget the title) talking about Viet Nam and how it should NEVER happen again. Always use: overwhelming force, have an exit strategy, line up a true coalition, etc.

He was USED and allowed himself and his credibility to be used to LIE and he KNEW he was lying. He's still trying to smarm his way through it and continues using Cheney talking points to this day, to some extent. If we here on DU could figure out that invading IraqNam was a fricking disaster by researching online before the IWR and before the UN thingy, surely Mr. Powell knew.

[kenny blankenship]

9. Colin Powell's entrée into politics was covering up VN war atrocities

Next big milestone in his career was assisting Cap Weinberger manage the illegal arms transfers to Iran as part of the Iran-Contra scandal. He lied to Congressional investigators about the existence of Weinberger's journal which held key evidence of their involvement. Later after the investigation was stifled, this journal (called a "daybook") turned up in the Library of Congress. Powell, who was Weinberger's confidential assistant, had denied its existence under oath.

Colin Powell never turned his back on you. You and others were only deceived about his true loyalties.

(to explain the connection between Powell's political career and Vietnam war atrocities: Major Colin Powell wrote the US Army's initial coverup report "refuting" all allegations of massacres and indiscriminate killing in Quang Ngai province where his outfit, the so-called "Americal" division, was based. Before the allegations of massacres would be investigated in Congress, a couple years after Powell's report was filed, which resulted in eyewitness testimony of the My Lai 4 massacre incident, Colin Powell was snatched from obscurity and invited to join the Nixon Administration in Washington as part of Caspar Weinberger's Office of Management and Budget. The impression of a reward for silence is hard to avoid. Without My Lai, and his cheerful complicity in that and other warcrimes, you probably would never have heard the name Colin Powell.)

[Cyrano]

11. Perhaps you're right.

This is a man whom I believe could have achieved true greatness. Maybe I was just taken in along with millions of others.

Nonetheless, he came to a fork road in history and chose the wrong one. Whether it was self deception, or a mistake, only Powell knows.

At one time, he was being looked upon as a possible president. Instead, he sold out his country and his reputation.

None of us has ever been in his position. What would we have done? I'd really like to think we would have spoken up regardless of the consequences.

As much as his lack of speaking up at the time enrage me, they sadden me. This is a man who stood on the verge of forever being remembered for his greatness. None of us can truly know what we would have done in his position.

I like to think I would have spoken up. And so do you. But none of us have ever held positions of such overwhelming power. Can we really say we would have done differently.

It's one thing to post our "heroism" here. It's another to actually act in the face of reality. (Sometimes I wish I were Chauncy Gardner in "Being There" who could change things by clicking on my TV remote.)

[Garbo 2004]

10. My Lai coverup, Iran Contra (Powell was liaison, replaced by Ollie North).

And reportedly, per Seymour Hersh's sources, Powell was peddling the Niger yellowcake story (which his own State Dept INR had already debunked as bogus) to Congress in closed meetings while the IWR was pending vote. Later, Wilkerson tells us how Powell refused to include that in his public speech in the UN, but apparently he did include it along with the aluminum tubes story in briefings to Congress and helped the Bush Administration get the IWR through Congress. Powell didn't get to where he was by bucking power but by going along with it. And the Iraq war was no different.

[Cyrano]

12. Yep. The aim of my original post is that he sold us out. Damn him.

[KG]

13. colin powell, one of the all-time great spin stories.

it seems we still haven't buried the colin powell myth deep enuff.

colin powell never 'turned his back' on this country. he's carried water for the fascist state his entire career.

[frylock]

15. powell really should just do the honorable thing..

and I think you all know what I mean.

[applegrove]

16. Is Oberlman on You tube?