Another Iraq Memo Revealed: Colin Powell Opposed War Without Second U.N. R

[sabra]

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/28/new-iraq-memo/

Another Iraq Memo Revealed: Colin Powell Opposed War Without Second U.N. Resolution
The New York Times reported yesterday on a confidential January 2003 memo that showed President Bush “was determined to invade Iraq” even without a second UN resolution.

Yesterday on Hardball, the source of that memo, British author Philippe Sands, revealed the existence of yet another memo. The new document details a conversation between then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and “makes it clear that in Colin Powell’s eyes, if there wasn’t enough evidence for a second Security Council resolution, then there wasn’t enough evidence to justify the U.S. going it alone.” Watch it:



As Tiny Revolution notes, a May 2003 UK Guardian article reported on a transcript of a meeting between Powell and Straw in which the two discussed their doubts that WMDs existed in Iraq. The paper later agreed to retract portions of the story after Straw “made it clear that no such meeting took place.” It seems the Guardian was right after all.

transcript below:

SANDS:

<snip>

So Colin Powell was spot on, but it seems he was overridden by a president and others in the administration who were absolutely committed to taking the United States to war, tragically in erroneous circumstances, irrespective of what the inspectors found.

[Avalux]

1. So why the hell did he lie to the UN and go along with the warmongers??

Coward. He should have shouted his concerns regardless of the fallout. I hope he can't sleep at night.

[BuyingThyme]

6. Fucking Crazies.

Colin Powell in four-letter neo-con 'crazies' row

Martin Bright
Sunday September 12, 2004
The Observer

A furious row has broken out over claims in a new book by BBC broadcaster James Naughtie that US Secretary of State Colin Powell described neo-conservatives in the Bush administration as 'fucking crazies' during the build-up to war in Iraq.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1302834,00.html

[blm]

2. It was Powell telling Dem senators that war was last resort and assuring

them that Bush would adhere to IWR guidelines on diplomacy and weapons inspections first.

Guess the Bushies snookered him. Too bad for the country he didn't share the truth once he realized they were lying to him, too.

[mike_c]

3. Colin Powell has ZERO credibility after his U.N. performance....

Sorry, Powell is one of the war criminals. If he has reservations, too bad. He was one of the war pigs regardless.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. I agree 100%!

He was looking out for his and his son's money and he didn't give a damn about his country!

[Tamyrlin79]

4. What? Is Colin trying to Rehab his cred and rep?

Maybe he did object. Knowing Powell, I don't doubt it. But, that doesn't change the fact that he could have spoken up, objected, resigned in protest, etc. and otherwise alerted the public to what was going on. But he did not. He went and gave a fake speech at the U.N. paving the way to war.

Other than Bush and the neocons, there are two other people who aided and abetted this travesty of justice: Tony Blair and Colin fucking Powell. Sorry, but he's just not gonna be able to live that one down.

[Solly Mack]

5. Silence is consent

[WI_DEM]

7. If Powell had any integrity he would have resigned his office

if he opposed Bush's action immediately after the invasion. Cyrus Vance, Jimmy Carter's Secretary of State did just that after the failed attempt to rescue the Hostages in April, 1980 because he opposed the action.

[peacebaby3]

9. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the

silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Shame on you Colin Powell.