Powell blamed for occupation mess

[msgadget]

My apologies if this is a duplicate. I read that conservatives want Rumsfeld out but, evidently, Powell is being blamed for the mess the occupation has become.


http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/11/30/80903.shtml


>Perle: Rumsfeld Opposed, Powell Wanted Occupation

Secretary Colin Powell, the State Department and the CIA – not Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld – are responsible for the chaos that has grown out of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, says Richard Perle, the former chairman of Pentagon's Defense Policy Review Board.


Appearing on Fox News' "O’Reilly Factor" Monday night, Perle said the U.S. made a most serious mistake after Iraq was liberated and the "keys" were not handed over immediately to Iraqis to run their own country.<

....

>When O’Reilly cited Colin Powell as a dissenting voice who warned the president that if "you break it , you’ll own it," Perle said, "the irony is that it was Secretary Powell and some others who wanted the extended occupation. They are the ones who did not want to turn things over to the Iraqis, who feared and distrusted the Iraqis and blocked all efforts to do precisely that."

Perle then revealed that even before the war Rumsfeld’s Department of Defense had argued that we should train thousands of Iraqis "to go in with us so that we wouldn’t be the aggressor, we wouldn’t be the occupying power, and those proposals were blocked largely by the State Department and the CIA. Rumsfeld was never able to get approval for the political strategy that might well have saved us from much of the subsequent trouble." <

[rooboy]

1. Newsmax + RIchard Perle + FOX + Bill O'Reilly..

equals a dimension of spin and lies that even Stephen Hawking couldn't fathom.

[slor]

2. I cannot say I feel for Powell...

he chose to go along with these criminals, that they would blame him, as he leaves, should not surprise him. And why the hell is perle still free on the streets?

[murielm99]

3. I guess Powell must be the new Clinton.

They always need someone else to blame for their screwups.

[Ducks In A Row]

8. The saying, you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas comes to mind

Powell deserves all the blame they wrongly place on him.

We tried to warn him, pleaded with him to speak up, be the voice we knew he could be, but he refused.

so I hope it preys on his mind for the rest of his life. All those dead soldiers and iraqis he could have saved. All the terror he could have prevented.

Well, maybe not prevent in the long run, but not be a silent participant.

[Spinzonner]

4. But I thought God told Shrub what to do

[acmavm]

5. If they decide, fairly or unfairly, to publically blame Powell, I just say

oh well. First, anyone with any intellect at all understands how this frigging administration works. They're all guilty as sin.

Second, Powell has never had any integrity at all. Why should he be surprised if people who are as soulless and evil as he is blame him for their screw ups. He did everything he could to help them. He was comparable to a pimp. He lied, intentionally. He lied for liars. What else would anyone expect? Especially coming from a creature like Richard Perle.

[winston61]

6. What a guy..

Like many of us I used to think Powell had some brains and integrity. Especially compared to the neocons. Boy, was I wrong. He did not see the neocons for what they were, not even Bolton, who was in his own department! Do you think he ever wondered what that stabbing sensation was between his shoulder blades? You can be a well-intentioned dumb ass, but you are still a dumb ass. So now he is being scape-goated by human filth like Perle and Rumsfeld. There's a surprise. Will Powell be courted by publishers looking for a tell-all book?

[htuttle]

7. Perle would have handed the country to Iranian spy Chalabi, right?

That would have been much better, right? Then Iraq would be Iran's problem, not ours?

:eyes:

Maybe it would have been best not to go on this 'cakewalk' at all?

[HuckleB]

9. Apparently.

This is ridiculous. Perle and Rumsfeld and all the rest are juvenile blockheads, living their entire lives in arrested development. I'm not saying I care about Powell, but this is a very bogus claim.

[bunny planet]

10. Interesting. I think they had better not push Powell too far. After he has

resigned he can testify against them. Perhaps this is why he was shot at
in Haiti today. If they kill him, they can blame him for everything after he's dead and can't rat on them anymore. I know he's been their spineless houseboy up until this point but they might just push him too far.

[otohara]

11. Which Occuption (Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti?)

so many to choose from.

[joanski01]

12. Well, I guess all the Freepers got their

talking points now. O'Reilly and Perle! Whatta team!

[hangloose]

13. What a bunch of horseshit! Back stabbing SOB . Paint a target

on this back, pack him up and ship him to the green zone.

[Eloriel]

14. Self-aggrandizing liar

He wouldn't know the truth about anything if it bit him on the butt.

This is so far from the truth of what happened (aside from Powell's position, which I don't know or even care about) that it just appalls me. It's galling.

Does he not remember another NeoCon's promises of roses strewn in our path? And talk of a "cakewalk"? The "occupation" was a necessity -- and badly, badly carried out, too -- in the absence of rose strewn cakewalks through Baghdad.

Then, too, there were all those incredible things the U.S. foisted on Iraq, raping their economic infratstructure and natural resources in the wild dash to create a market society safe for greedy capitalists. Couldn't have Iraqis running the country before we were done with that little bit of bidness.

Dear GOD these people are incorrigible.

[bemildred]

15. Bwaaahaaahaaa.

You didn't catch Saddam until December, dickweed.
Do you think he would have just disappeared if you all had
marched back down to Kuwait after "taking Baghdad?"

Here dickweed. from April 1, 2003:

WASHINGTON, Apr 1 (IPS) - Even as U.S. troops grind their way toward Baghdad, the administration of President George W. Bush remains in turmoil over its post-war plans to occupy Iraq.

The main issue - who will be in charge of the occupation - pits the Pentagon against the State Department and its allies in Europe, notably British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The Pentagon appears determined to maintain as much power for itself and its favourites in the opposition Iraqi National Congress (INC) as possible, while the State Department, backed by the intelligence community and Blair, is arguing for major roles for other U.S. allies, the United Nations and other opposition figures.

The Pentagon recently vetoed as many as eight current and former State Department officials for key posts in the occupation administration, according to the 'Washington Post'.

http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=17229

What a lying, dishonest sack of shit. But then he's a Staussian.

[d_b]

16. perle on O'reilly.

That's precious.

[Gyre]

17. I JUST LOVE IT

when the neocons feed on each other! :)

Gyre

[LittleClarkie]

18. Of course they want to discredit Powell, the beginnings of a smear

just in case he wants to write a book or something. The only halfway sane person they had, and they want to make sure no one believes him. It was all HIS fault. Riiiiight.

Serves him right, I guess, for going along with the whole thing, even if he didn't put his uniform on.

Perle is one of the neo-cons. I wouldn't trust anything he has to say.

[mutius]

19. It's Bush

Bush rises above ever thing. Blame Bush! No matter what happens this guy comes out clean.

[agincourt]

20. Aw shit Hell,

Blame it on FDR and LBJ, the sheeple zombies will fucking beleive it. I'm sure they would have left all that oil with any ole' Iraqi to run the country. These fuckers will say anything.