This cape cod times top headline today caught my eye, refering to Colin Powell’s comments in an interview in Britain about the war in Iraq. Seems to have been buried in the bigger news outlets.
I thought this was a remarkably strong statement for a generally quiet thoughtful man:
The president’s military advisers felt that the size of the force was adequate; they may still feel that years later. Some of us don’t. I don’t. In my perspective, I would have preferred more troops, but you know, this conflict is not over.
Please share widely!
From a man who realizes, too late, that he blew whatever national political capital he had accumulated during a lifetime of service by failing to exercise good judgment at a critical juncture: his U.N. speech making the case for the Iraq war.
The President is often surrounded by “yes men” and often hears reinforcement of his own views. Powell questioned Bush and Rumsfeld in private, but was blown off. Quite a courageous move for anyone talking to the President.
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Should he have carried that opposition into the public? Probably. But that was a bad time for anyone questioning the President. Remember, the media “watchdogs” took Bush’s word as gospel,and anyone who opposed Bush’s fascism was “unpatriotic”. You can imagine how Powell would have been skewered if he had said anything in 2003.
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Instead the spineless Bushies tossed Powell to the wolves. Now he can finally speak out. I’m glad he has.