Posted on 09/08/2005 3:28:54 PM PDT by jmc1969
"I'm the one who presented it to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It is painful now," Powell said in an interview with Barbara Walters on ABC-News.
The presentation by the soldier-diplomat to the world body in February 2003 lent considerable credibility to President Bush's case against Iraq and for going to war to remove President Saddam Hussein.
In the speech, Powell said he had relied on information he received at Central Intelligence Agency briefings. He said Thursday that then-director George Tenet "believed what he was giving to me was accurate."
But, Powell said, "the intelligence system did not work well."
"There were some people in the intelligence community who knew at the time that some of those sources were not good, and shouldn't be relied upon, and they didn't speak up," Powell said.
"That devastated me," he said.
Powell in the TV interview also disputed the Bush administration's linking of Saddam's regime with terrorists.
He said he had never seen a connection between Baghdad and the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. "I can't think otherwise, because I'd never seen evidence to suggest there was one," he said.
Another attack Bush front opens....this one attacking the war .......again.
Powell, strip away the phoney bravado and you get is really just a pandering-to-the-media/moderates wuss.
I suppose Palestinian suicide bombers whose families received grants from Saddam Hussein weren't terrorists either.
The interview really doesn't sound like Powell.
i guess they never had WMD, the Twin Towers still stand and Bin Laden is an agrarian benefactor.
That's what we get for having Tenet stay on.
Powell trying to keep his own skirts clean. Damned shame.
Looks like he didn't leave quite soon enough.
No, he means to say some of the information he had was wrong. And his credibility is important to him.
There's nothing new in that, nor is there anything wrong with admitting the WMDs he and the president believed were there, ~weren't~.
That's just the truth.
He is the true model of the ineffectual "moderate" scumbag that has helped destroy this country. Go on Oprah and sell your book then leave us alone.
And, what about him disputing Saddam's regime links with terrorists?
Appointing Colin Powell Secretary of State is quite possibly the biggest single mistake of President Bush's first term.
Troll.
Oops, I meant
Welcome to FR!
This is where the prosecuter's assistant leans over to the prosecuter and jots: "Any Idea Where He Is Going With This?"...The Prosecuter responds by writing: "??????"
Powell is trying to skate. No matter how you cut it, Powell is a politician and a liberal one at that. What a sob story...Powell knew how critical what he was saying was...
(1)Powell in the TV interview also disputed the Bush administration's linking of Saddam's regime with terrorists.
(2)He said he had never seen a connection between Baghdad and the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.
(3)"I can't think otherwise, because I'd never seen evidence to suggest there was one," he said.
Notice the drastic difference between statements (1) and (2). Terrorists and the 9/11 terrorism are two different things -- one is very specific and one is very general. But the AP spun it so you would think he was stating the two were somehow equal or related. Not necessarily so.
Sorry Powell, SOUR GRAPES. Now trying to get even with Bush, eh? Sure smells that way.
He should stand by his statement as a reflection of the best information available at the time. He KNOWS Saddam had WMD, he knows Saddam USED WMD and he KNOWS Saddam supported and sheltered TERRORISTS.
Stand up and be counted and do NOT worry about what LEFTISTS revisionist historians will say about your record.
This is dissappointing to say the least.
And, what about him disputing Saddam's regime links with terrorists?
I think he meant the 9/11 terrorists.
It's a shame a man as credible and competitent as Colin Powell is gets no respect on this forum.
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