Powell Defends War, Says He Expected WMD [Powell Bashes Democrats!!!!]

Yahoo News ^ | February 11, 2004 | BARRY SCHWEID

[Howlin]

WASHINGTON - Under attack by House Democrats, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said Wednesday he was surprised U.N. and American inspectors did not find storehouses of hidden weapons in Iraq (news - web sites).

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Latest headlines:

·	Pentagon: 3 Months in Iraq Cost $14B AP - 9 minutes ago

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·	Powell denies truth "murdered" in run-up to Iraq war AFP - 50 minutes ago

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But Powell told the International Relations Committee that "we presented what we believed the truth to be at the time."

Powell testified that President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s apparent intent to develop and use weapons, his record of gassing his own people and his defiance of the United Nations (news - web sites) all were — and remain — valid reasons for going to war to overthrow him.

He said President Bush (news - web sites) and he had relied on intelligence provided by CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet, and the only serious question raised about the analysis since the war was whether Iraq had storehouses of weapons of mass destruction.

"I don't think anyone in America should think that President Bush cooked the books," Powell said.

"The reason we told you there were stockpiles there was because we believed it to be true," Powell said. "We were surprised when they did not turn up."

But Reps. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., Robert Melendez, D-N.J., Rep. Robert I Wexler, D-Fla., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, challenged Powell about the administration's case, suggesting it may have been misleading from the outset.

"Truth is the first casualty of war," Ackerman said. "I would contend truth was murdered before a shot was fired."

"We went into this war under false premises," Melendez said.

Wexler told Powell he considered him to be "the credible voice in the administration."

"When you reached the conclusion that Iraq represented a clear and present danger to the United States, that meant a lot to me," Wexler said. "But the facts suggest there was a part of the story that was not true."

Powell fielded the assertions calmly, defending the president's judgment and his own.

But when Brown contrasted Powell's military experience to Bush's record with the National Guard, saying the president "may have been AWOL" from duty, Powell exploded.

"First of all, Mr. Brown, I won't dignify your comments about the president because you don't know what you are talking about," Powell snapped.

"I'm sorry I don't know what you mean, Mr. Secretary," Brown replied.

"You made reference to the president," Powell shot back.

Brown then repeated his understanding that Bush may have been AWOL from guard duty.

"Mr. Brown, let's not go there," Powell retorted. "Let's not go there in this hearing. If you want to have a political fight on this matter, that is very controversial, and I think it is being dealt with by the White House, fine, but let's not go there."

Powell then went on to defend the Bush administration's assertions on Iraq's prewar weaponry. "We didn't make it up," Powell said. "It was information that reflected the views of analysts in all the various agencies."

But the dispute with Brown did not end.

"Are you shaking your head for something, young man?," Powell asked when he noticed an aide to Brown apparently disagreeing.

"I seldom come to a meeting when I'm talking to a congressman and I have people aligned behind you giving editorial comment by headshakes," Powell said.

Brown, defending his assistant, said "I think people have opinions."

Eager to move on, the committee chairman, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., observed that "we're on a very emotional subject," but "we've been doing swimmingly until now."

[prairiebreeze]

KaBOOOOM!

[Peach]

FNC will probably replay it several times tomorrow. The FNC clip that I saw does not show the aide behind Brown shaking his head or Powell's response.

[Peach]

Brown brought a knife to a gunfight.

[Miss Marple]

Well, if I were in charge, I would have the following people go nearly postal in interviews:

Dennis Hastert
Trent Lott
Chris Shays
John McCain
Lincoln Chafee(a difficult task, but I am sure he could be coached)

Get the moderates and the mild-mannered out to flay the press. I can't think of anything that would set the press on their ear more than Chris Shays and Lincoln Chaffee going ballistic. HA!

[Peach]

Add Santorum to the list. AND Zell Miller. That will kill the left. Hah!

[cyncooper]

When MSNBC played it, I noticed weasel Brown loads the AWOL comment in at the beginning of his entire statement, he then goes on for a bit before it is Powell's turn to speak. I wondered if he thought he'd get away with saying it and that Powell would ignore it.

WRONG

In addition to the AWOL slander, he notes Cheney not serving and "other administration officials" not serving. He didn't bother to add "and neither did I".

[daybreakcoming]

RNC needs to get off their butts. Many voters only have time to listen to the soundbites ladled out to them by the news. - they are too busy or too lazy to dig the truth out for themselves.

[jackbill]

I sent Sherrod Brown a FAX, which I can't repeat here because this is a family oriented forum. I don't fool around with e-mails with these pieces of crap because they can easily delete them. With a FAX, someone at least has to touch it to get it out of the machine.

I don't think that Brown, or his RAT staff will like the FAX.

If you'd like, Brown's fax number is 202-225-2266.

[roostercogburn]

Anyone know where to find a video link of this exchange. Can't find one at CNN. They are ignoring the whole exchange. The Powell story is front page, but nothing about him and that disgusting fool brown.

[JudgemAll]

"I think people have opinions."

A racist comment... what was he refering too? Holy opinion but bash the individual?

Typical of liberal PC pigs. Defending opinions, not people.

[daybreakcoming]

I would like Colin Powell's fax #. I want to thank him for what he did today.

[Armedanddangerous]

You DID mean to type Wexler and BROWN, right? :o)


OOOooops..my bad

[Havoc]

You're right, and the next thing we should see is the Democrats asking that the rhetoric be toned down after they've spent 2 years building it to a fever pitch and telling whatever lie it takes to get it there to begin with.

[daybreakcoming]

I found Powell's email but no fax # yet. I did send an email thanking him.....perhaps if others would also, he would get the word that we support what he did today.
http://dosref.lib.uic.edu/ask_form_cat/ask_form_secretary.html

[maica]

I have come to the conclusion today that all these dim kool-aid drinkers really are CLUELESS!! Major Garrett said tonight on FNC that Michael Moore was the first to raise the issue of President Bush's ANG record. Obviouly Garrett has never listened to one CSPAN call-in program. There is at least one 'AWOL' caller every time I have listened.

A twit of a dim congressman speaks ill of the POTUS to the Secretary of State and the congressman's aide visibly displays contempt for the SOS.

And yet they think they are intellectually superior to all the red state folk!! They are fools!

[Peach]

Personally, I hope FNC keeps showing that clip.

People I talked with at the gym today are getting more and more outraged by the leftist tactics and by the press's obvious partisanship.

[petercooper]

COngressMaggot Brown

that's exactly what he is - a piece of garbage

[Snowbelt Man]

Sherrod brown is a punk from my part of the country who has never had a real job in his entire life. i'd love to know what he was doing during viet nam.

[Snowbelt Man]

Sherrod brown is a punk from my part of the country who has never had a real job in his entire life. i'd love to know what he was doing during viet nam.

[Mo1]

"First of all, Mr. Brown, I won't dignify your comments about the president because you don't know what you are talking about," Powell snapped.

ALRIGHT COLIN POWELL!!!

As for the intell ... it's the same flipping intell they rec'd when Congress voted for the war

It's the same type of flipping intell when they voted for it under Clinton

Also Curt Weldon stated tonight on Hardball that the searching for these weapons are only 50% completed

Newt pointed out on O'Reilly tonight that Kay said that Saddam and his Top Officials thought they had WMD .. that France, Germany, Britain, The UN and the whole world thought there were WMD.

AND .. it is OBVIOUS that these idiots in congress didn't bother to read or listen to David Kays words

Maybe if these idiots stopped shaking their heads and paid attention .. they would know these things