WHY DIDN’T COLIN POWELL RESIGN?
12 April 2006 2:49 pm by Taylor Marsh
WHY DIDN'T COLIN POWELL RESIGN?
 |
I queried Powell at a reception following a talk he
gave in Los Angeles on Monday. Pointing out that the October 2002 National
Intelligence Estimate showed that his State Department had gotten it right
on the nonexistent Iraq nuclear threat, I asked why did the president ignore
that wisdom in his stated case for the invasion?“The CIA was pushing the aluminum tube argument
heavily and Cheney went with that instead of what our guys wrote,” Powell
said. And the Niger reference in Bush's State of the Union speech? “That
was a big mistake,” he said. “It should never have been in the speech.
I didn't need Wilson to tell me that there wasn't a Niger connection. He didn't
tell us anything we didn't already know. I never believed it.”When I pressed further as to why the president played
up the Iraq nuclear threat, Powell said it wasn't the president: “That
was all Cheney.”
As Jane
Hamsher said, “Powell didn’t need Joe Wilson
to tell him there wasn’t a Niger connection? Well the rest of us sure
did.” No kidding.
Through Scheer, we learn that Powell never believed Iraq posed
an “imminent nuclear threat.”
This is such an insult, such a disgusting admission, an unmitigated
cowardly confession at this late date, that it completes the ruination of former
general Colin Powell's public persona, not to mention his career. For a military
man of his stature to sit by and not only watch, but participate, as a false
case was made for preemptive war, after all he'd learned in his life, is to
dishonor the service and what the U.S. military means. I simply cannot come
up with words harsh enough to express my outrage.
It shows no bravery whatsoever for Powell to put a shiv in the
president's preemption pimp, Dick Cheney, three years into this bloody, costly
and ruinous war. Being “a good soldier” and supporting the boss, when
you know the case being made is not factual, is not being “a good soldier.”
It is being a patsy. It is allowing yourself to be used. It is laying down your
ethics for a cause and a president who doesn't deserve the loyalty you are giving.
It is betrayal.
Betrayal of the thousands of men and women sent to fight a war
against Saddam on false pretenses, which you helped prop up and push forward.
Does Colin Powell not understand that point? Does the person who was General
Colin Powell not understand the weight his appearance at Bush and Cheney's side
meant throughout the march to war?
Since Powell knew all along that the case being made for war was
not supported by facts, why didn't Colin Powell resign? Because Saddam was a
bad guy and deserve to be ousted, regardless of the facts used in the case being
made? That is not his decision to make. For that matter, it isn't the president's
either. It is the Congress, along with the activism shown by the American people,
who have a vested interest in why and when this country wages war.
We were cheated out of the chance to make a judgment based on
facts and so was Congress.
Again, we have Republicans putting their party ahead of country,
much like what the Republicans are doing today by backing Bush no matter what,
leaving the country to suffer so they can keep their election hopes alive, as
well as their party.
Where is the loyalty to America, to the citizens for whom the
people in Washington work?
It is disgusting to read the confession of Colin Powell today.
It is alarming. It is unacceptable for anyone in public life to vouch for evidence
that opens out on to policies that take us to war based on faulty evidence.
Without Joseph Wilson, we would still not know the truth, which
is why an organized smear campaign was waged against him. Jane is right. Colin
Powell may not have needed Joseph Wilson, but the American people needed him
desperately, because Powell didn't have Wilson's courage.
However, Powell's disgrace won't matter much on the lecture circuit.
He'll continue to rake up the fees amidst his collapsed credibility. He is the
poster child for what a leader is not.
In fact, without Joseph Wilson, Colin Powell would likely still
be playing the part of the “good soldier,” refusing to admit that
at the heart of his masquerade was a man who had lost his nerve, his spine and
his conscience. He should have resigned. Just imagine how different the world
would be today if he had.
