Posted on 09/30/2006 6:00:05 PM PDT by jmc1969
Colin L. Powell, in his last face-to-face meeting with President Bush before stepping down as secretary of state in January 2005, tried to impress upon him one last time the dangers he saw the United States facing in Iraq, according to a new Powell biography.
The insurgency was growing and the country was spiraling into sectarian bloodshed, Powell warned. Elections in Iraq would not solve the problems, and the president’s ability to act decisively was being crippled by divisions within his own administration, according to the account in “Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell” by Karen DeYoung, an associate editor at The Washington Post. Bush appeared disengaged, the book says, and brushed off Mr. Powell’s complaints about dysfunction in his government.
The book is among the latest accounts of the divisions within the administration as it hurtled toward war and stumbled through its aftermath.
The book provides an inside account of the preparation for Powell’s pivotal presentation before the United Nations six weeks before the start of the Iraq war in March 2003. Powell told DeYoung that he spent much of the five days he had to prepare for the presentation “trimming the garbage” that Cheney’s staff had provided by way of evidence of Iraq’s weapons programs and ties to Al-Qaeda.
Running throughout this book and other recent accounts are the chain of defeats and humiliations Powell suffered in service to Bush. Though Powell remained one of the most admired figures in America, it was not enough to immunize him against attacks.
“There are people who would like to take me down,” he is quoted as saying while motioning toward the White House during his last year in office. “It’s been the case since I was appointed. By take down, I mean, ‘keep him in his place.’ ”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I.e., Colin Powell was Woodward's principal source, as usual.
**Though Powell remained one of the most admired figures in America, it was not enough to immunize him against attacks.**
Admired by whom? No one I know. Somebody PLEASE tell him to SHUT UP! He's really getting on my nerves.
So what was Powell's solution?
As far as Iraq goes, I seem to remember him being quoted as saying "you break it, you bought it." It's a little late now for him to suggest that it be put back on the shelf.
Colin has not impressed me one bit in his stay at State. He should have been replaced early on.
I'm glad Condi is there now.
Powell and Tenet were Bush's Weakest Links.
Powell has a new book too!
FOTFLOL.
As Tony Snow implied, No one at the White House calls Powell anymore. That must rankle.
The same Powell that let the Plame investigation go on for years when he knew Armitage was the source of the oh so damageing 'leak'. The same Powell who let it go on for years to the detriment of the White House. Powell is the enemy.
Entitled, "If only they had Listened to Me!"
Ffft. Fiction teller Woodward and backstabber Powell can pack sand.
Remember back in the 90s when he was cool? Kind of like ska and slap bracelets?
Does Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin have books coming out this month too?
That didn't stop each other from stabbing each other in the back. Bob Woodward book came out in April of 2004 that claims Tenet said "Slam dunk".
Do you think it was coincidence that Sy Hersh's piece on Abu Ghraib came out two weeks later??? I am no nut, but I believe the timing was by no accident.
on the Sean Hannity show in April of 2004, he denied saying that.
Powell is an ungrateful egomaniac. This country has tens of thousands of people who are his equal or better, but he had his pillow fluffed because the Republicans needed to out black the democrats.
Having said that, It's a damn good thing I'm too old to ever need to get a job again.
Wasn't it Powell who was a gainst doing in Hussein under Bush 1? I actually never thought Powell had what it takes.
Powell has opposed taking action in Iraq at least three times. The first was at the end of the Gulf War, when he told Bush I to end the war instead of moving on to Baghdad. The second was during the insurrections of the Kurds and the marsh Arabs, when Saddam was weak and support for the rebels might have toppled him. The third was the 2003 invasion.
I doubt his book says anything about Armitage revealing Plame's identity.
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