Powell speaks:he and Dept.'s experts never believed Iraq imminent threat

[dajoki]

The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060424/scheer0411

TruthDig | posted April 11, 2006 (web only)
Now Powell Tells Us
Robert Scheer

Robert Scheer is editor of TruthDig, where this essay originally was published.

The President played the scoundrel--even the best of his minions went along with the lies--and when a former ambassador dared to tell the truth, the White House initiated what Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald calls "a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson." That is the important story line.

<<snip>>

On Monday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told me that he and his department's top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat, but that the President followed the misleading advice of Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA in making the claim. Now he tells us.

<<snip>>

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." A convenient response for a Bush family loyalist, perhaps, but it begs the question of how the President came to be a captive of his Vice President's fantasies.

More important: Why was this doubt, on the part of the secretary of state and others, about the salient facts justifying the invasion of Iraq kept from the public until we heard the truth from whistleblower Wilson, whose credibility the President then sought to destroy?

[Eric J in MN]

1. Colin Powell speaks out too late.

Too late to stop the war.

Too late to stop Bush from getting a second term.

[ArbustoBuster]

5. Too late to save his good name.

History books are going to shred the reputations of anyone who had anything to do with the Bush Administration.

[dajoki]

6. His own fault for towing the line n/t

[ArbustoBuster]

13. I agree entirely. n/t

[eleny]

2. Has the WH demanded an apology from him yet, too???

[dajoki]

4. What kind of strange power...

did this administration hold over these so called leaders?

[eleny]

12. I bet that at the time Powell figured they could pull it off

Now he's pulling a switcheroo hoping history won't treat him like the lying scum that he is.

[dajoki]

14. His duty was to speak the truth...

look what his lies have contributed to.

[eleny]

27. Absolutely nt

[cliss]

28. Hint = it's black, it's thick.

It's more precius than gold. Cheney has a treasure map of the stuff, and he keeps it under his pillow at night.

[dajoki]

32. black gold...

was supposed to pay for this illegal war.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. That would mean that he has confessed to

complicity in war crimes, specifically an act of aggression against a non belligerent nation, for which, if I recall correctly, we hung a few generals back at the end of WWII.

Of course I am against the death penalty, so I say instead: Colin Powell, Off to The Hague!

[dajoki]

8. Yes, because...

he could at least TRIED to put a stop to war plans.

[bullimiami]

7. why did you lie to us and to the UN colin. WHY DID YOU LIE?

[LittleClarkie]

15. He was a big factor in why I believed before I knew better

I was still sheeplish then.

I wonder what effect his testimony had on the IWR voters.

[dajoki]

16. his word carried...

a lot of weight back then, but no more.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Well, well, look who's showing up to the party..

And fashionably late, of course

[kitkat65]

10. He says this NOOOOOW!

Fuck you, Powell, for not bringing it to the public's attention sooner. Fuck you for laying out the bullshit case to the United Nations. Fuck you for not resigning on principle if you didn't believe what you were being told to say.

We're pushing 2,400 dead American soldiers and who knows how many innocent Iraqi civilians because of this cabal.

If you knew that Iraq was not a threat and said nothing then you're a fucking war criminal and deserve to rot in the Hague with the rest of them.

[AusGail]

17. thankyou for not mincing your words

Maybe he thought he might be outed like Joe Wilson's wife if he spoke up. I mean about the part that he is actually an "Uncle Tom". What a coward he turned out to be. He (along with Neo Condi) has set the African American cause back a mile. Can a president be impeached for being stupid? Can the whole administration be impeached?

[dajoki]

21. "Can a president be impeached for being stupid?"

Unfortunately, no. But he can for his crimes.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Hey Colin, go fuck yourself

Too late, bub. The blood's on your hands too, you enabling piece of shit.

Oh .... Colin .... that Mei Lei thing ..... ? It is NOT forgotten .... you sorry excuse for a uniformed 'man of honor'.

[Canuckistanian]

18. My Lai?

He was involved in that?

[Stinky The Clown]

19. He was involved in the attempt at covering it up

He went along with the hard liners who felt if it were made public, it would undermine the nations supposed resolve for the war. He was charged with investigating and reporting on the allegations.

He's always been a toady to whatever powers were in charge.

[Canuckistanian]

22. Did he not see how Americans react to outright lies?

Did he learn nothing from the experience?

[dajoki]

36. and the rest of them too!!

[dansolo]

20. Still blaming the CIA

I thought that the experts at the CIA had plenty of reservations about the WMD issue. Tenet was the big cheerleader. I'm not a big fan of the CIA, but it amazes me how they seem to accept the blame for all of the "intelligence failures".

[magellan]

23. I don't think they do

Remember, there's been quite a turnover at the CIA since the war. Many career agents left, others were forced out for refusing to go along with BushCo's program.

I'm no fan of the CIA either, not in the least, but I'm even less of fan of Bush**'s CIA.

[Amonester]

35. Dicktraitor VP holds the record for the times a VP went to the CIA!!

(snip)
And it was also Libby and Cheney who reportedly visited the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) several times in the run-up to the war in Iraq in what was taken as pressure on CIA analysts to take a darker view of Saddam's alleged ties to al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction than what was reflected in the agency's reports.
<snip>
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/EJ01Aa01.html

Note that the C$M ain't 'reporting' that FACT very much (again). x(

[magellan]

24. The American public isn't your Father Confessor, Powell

But we will be the ones to see justice comes your way for selling out instead of speaking up.

[dajoki]

26. That phoney show...

in front of UN still sticks in my craw!!

[freethought]

25. He should have resigned prior to the UN presentation!!!

2350 dead soldiers later, you're a wee bit late Colin. Hope you're proud.

[Supersedeas]

30. it's a good start...he needs to really come clean now!!!

[dajoki]

31. Yes, I thought he...

had some principles, but I was wrong.

[Doctor_J]

29. Pin a rose on your newly-sprouted conscience, General

Tell the families of 3,000 US soldiers and 200,000 dead Iraqis.

When you're REALLY ready to repent, join Wesley Clark on the trail campaigning to get Smirk and his minions OUT OF OFFICE FOR GOOD.

[tabasco]

33. Powell attempting to shift blame to others.

Something he has excelled at during his military and political career.

Powell never takes the blame for anything.

I never understood the appeal of this cretin.

He is a low-life like the rest of his friends. A disgrace to the United States and the uniform he wore.

[FrenchieCat]

34. Shifting the blame seems to be the M.O. with these Bush folks

Black Generals included!

[dajoki]

37. You're right, anybody but them n/t

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

38. Damn you Colin Powell.

Damn you to Hell.
I hope you wake screaming every night when you think of all the people your decisions have killed.