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  1. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBlue View Post
    I agree with this perspective. If he wasn't suspicious of the narrative he certainly should have been more curious--and he should have been suspicious. By all appearances he accepted what he was "fed" at face value. That stated I would gladly take 10 more just like him in key positions. True principled leadership is being driven from the institutions of government at the moment it seems, the Colin Powells of the country are a dying breed. I'm sure I'm well over the PPB line so I will stop and apologize in advance. MODS may smite me down with impunity. It is done.
    Ha! I hope they don't strike down on thee with great vengeance and furious anger.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Rougemont Nebulae
    Quote Originally Posted by ClemmonsDevil View Post
    Ha! I hope they don't strike down on thee with great vengeance and furious anger.
    Tarantino'ed huh? Glad that guy grew up to be a filmmaker and not a mob boss.

  3. #23

    RIP Colon Powell

    [
    Read Powell's obit in the NYTimes for perspective on the UN speech.

  4. #24
    I'm sorry for his family and friends, but he cast his lot with the wrong crowd. He had a chance to do better. IMO the "stain" mantra that attempts to minimize his failings is BS.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO

    My Personal Experience

    I worked with Colin from 1977 to 1979 when he was a colonel assigned to be a military assistant in the front office of the Pentagon, which included the SecDef and DepSecDef.. I had an office down the hall and used to see him occasionally in meetings but more often at lunch where most sat the large table in the private dining room. He was respected and liked by everyone -- calm, poised, friendly to everyone, and pretty darned astute in giving advice to his bosses. We were not at all surprised when he got his star.

    Nor were we surprised when he ascended rapidly -- I believe he had had some contact with Reagan's SecDef Caspar Weinberger when serving as a White House Fellow when Cap was in the Nixon White House (head of the budget office). In fact, he was well-known and obviously highly regarded to senior officials in both parties.

    We could not imagine the rapidity of his ascent -- became corps commander without being a division commander and became national security advisor under Reagan after Iran Contra. Bush 41 appointed him chairman of the JCS, and the Clinton Administration reappointed him. I was personally not surprised he turned down a chance to run for president in 1996 -- elected politics is a very tough game that one needs to start early (Trump is the exception that proves the rule, as was Ike, but in a very different way).

    Powell played an important international role after 9/11 in getting Pakistan to support the U.S. in attacking Al Qaeda -- he flew directly to Islamabad and spoke directly and forcefully to President Musharraf that he had no choice but to support the U.S. But Powell got rolled big time as Secretary of State in the run up to the invasion of Iraq. It was not only the testimony on WMD, but it was the process of planning for action -- SecDef Rumsfeld, with VP Cheney's support, barred State Department and Intelligence Community personnel with direct knowledge of the region, especially Iraq, from participating in working groups. The Neocons, who were typically in favor of military action, were clearly in charge. A retired CIA officer with personal knowledge of Iraq told me before the Iraq invasion that the Iraqis would not stand for a military occupation by outside forces. I asked if other intelligence officials agreed with him, and he said, "Every single one." Powell should have resigned as Secretary of State before the invasion, although I suspect his personal loyalty to the Bushes probably prevented him from doing so. Then, he got dealt a very bad hand with respect to the UN testimony -- the intel on Iraq WMD's, while not manufactured, was very thin.

    As an aside, Powell also should have alerted the incoming Clinton administration in December 1992 that the so-called humanitarian mission to Somalia was fraught with risks. The SecDef Cheney launched this invasion (to which, Bush 41 agreed) after the 1992 election but before Clinton was inaugurated. I am personally suspicious of Cheney's motives, but, nevertheless, the incoming administration paid little attention to it until it blew up into a major problem. Powell should have known better and probably could have headed it off.
    Sage Grouse

    ---------------------------------------
    'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013

  6. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by sagegrouse View Post
    I worked with Colin from 1977 to 1979 when he was a colonel assigned to be a military assistant in the front office of the Pentagon, which included the SecDef and DepSecDef.. I had an office down the hall and used to see him occasionally in meetings but more often at lunch where most sat the large table in the private dining room. He was respected and liked by everyone -- calm, poised, friendly to everyone, and pretty darned astute in giving advice to his bosses. We were not at all surprised when he got his star.

    Nor were we surprised when he ascended rapidly -- I believe he had had some contact with Reagan's SecDef Caspar Weinberger when serving as a White House Fellow when Cap was in the Nixon White House (head of the budget office). In fact, he was well-known and obviously highly regarded to senior officials in both parties.

    We could not imagine the rapidity of his ascent -- became corps commander without being a division commander and became national security advisor under Reagan after Iran Contra. Bush 41 appointed him chairman of the JCS, and the Clinton Administration reappointed him. I was personally not surprised he turned down a chance to run for president in 1996 -- elected politics is a very tough game that one needs to start early (Trump is the exception that proves the rule, as was Ike, but in a very different way).

    Powell played an important international role after 9/11 in getting Pakistan to support the U.S. in attacking Al Qaeda -- he flew directly to Islamabad and spoke directly and forcefully to President Musharraf that he had no choice but to support the U.S. But Powell got rolled big time as Secretary of State in the run up to the invasion of Iraq. It was not only the testimony on WMD, but it was the process of planning for action -- SecDef Rumsfeld, with VP Cheney's support, barred State Department and Intelligence Community personnel with direct knowledge of the region, especially Iraq, from participating in working groups. The Neocons, who were typically in favor of military action, were clearly in charge. A retired CIA officer with personal knowledge of Iraq told me before the Iraq invasion that the Iraqis would not stand for a military occupation by outside forces. I asked if other intelligence officials agreed with him, and he said, "Every single one." Powell should have resigned as Secretary of State before the invasion, although I suspect his personal loyalty to the Bushes probably prevented him from doing so. Then, he got dealt a very bad hand with respect to the UN testimony -- the intel on Iraq WMD's, while not manufactured, was very thin.

    As an aside, Powell also should have alerted the incoming Clinton administration in December 1992 that the so-called humanitarian mission to Somalia was fraught with risks. The SecDef Cheney launched this invasion (to which, Bush 41 agreed) after the 1992 election but before Clinton was inaugurated. I am personally suspicious of Cheney's motives, but, nevertheless, the incoming administration paid little attention to it until it blew up into a major problem. Powell should have known better and probably could have headed it off.
    This is absolutely and ridiculously insightful. Thank you for sharing this and adding depth to this conversation. People and situations are inherently complicated and we have the tendency to want people and situations to exist in a very flat plane.

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