The Reluctant Warrior

During an interview by ABC’s Barbara Walters, the TV mother-confessor of the rich and famous, Colin Powell expounded as much as he felt he was able to on his role as Bush’s Secretary Of State, his presentation before the United Nations, and his views of the administration to which he no longer belongs.
According to ABC news he told Walters that he feels "terrible" about the claims he made to the UN, since widely debunked.
“It's a blot” he told Walters, “I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now."

I didn’t actually watch the interview, but I’m familiar with Walter’s softly-softly style. And I’m familiar with Powell from his frequent appearances on the Sunday political TV shows. I cannot contest his Vietnam war record and I have no reason to believe that most of his career has been anything but exemplary.

But when it came to his presentation before the UN with “evidence” that he knew damn well did not fit even his own criteria to commit the United States to a war, he made the case anyway. The question that the increasingly soft-focus Barbara Walters should have asked, but didn’t (and never would anyway) was--What the hell happened to your spine?

According to ABC: Powell told Walters he is unfazed by criticism that he put loyalty to the president over leadership. "Loyalty is a trait that I value, and yes, I am loyal. And there are some who say, 'Well, you shouldn't have supported it. You should have resigned.' But I'm glad that Saddam Hussein is gone. I'm glad that that regime is gone," he said.
When Walters pressed Powell about that support, given the "mess" that the invasion has yielded, Powell said, "Who knew what the whole mess was going to be like?"

To which I would reply “YOU DID, you sorry sonofabitch! You told Bush! It’s on the record! You knew of Shinseki’s statements and agreed with them, you knew the content of the Iraq Expert Group’s report, you admitted you didn’t trust the “evidence” you were given and yet you actively promoted the lies that have killed tens of thousands of innocents---ignorant propagandized American troops and helpless Iraqi civilians. DON’T GIVE ME THIS “WHO KNEW? “ BULLSHIT!

Thousands of ordinary citizens knew, people without the latest top secret “intelligence”, people way “outside the loop” living ordinary lives, THEY KNEW and what’s more they TOLD YOU they knew in demonstrations and rallies which YOU and your masters ignored.

Your UN testimony is a blot on your resume? A BLOT? That's no blot, its the blood of thousands who have died for what? So that you could keep your pension?
You are glad that Saddam Hussein is gone? GLAD! How you feel is hardly the point. How do the families of the dead feel? And is YOUR "pain" greater than that of the napalmed civilians, of those who lost limbs and sight?

"Reluctant warrior" my ass! When faced with a fight, you cowered and begged and plead allegiance to the bullies who threatened you. You are a coward and a murderer, a deserter and a traitor to your fellow soldiers and the American people.


Oh, and Barbara Walters... what's the point of interviewing the powerful unless you reveal something we don't know already? Give it up!