Posted on 01/15/2020 6:47:03 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
When President George W. Bush asked Colin Powell if the United States should invade Iraq in 2003 and overthrow dictator Saddam Hussein, the secretary of state and former general refused to give a straight answer.
“I didn’t say to him, ‘I oppose this war,’” Powell says in a book published today about U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War. “Because it wouldn’t have worked.”
That admission sheds light on Bush’s decision to launch the war that defined his presidency. Powell acknowledged his muted opposition in James Mann’s new book, The Great Rift, an account of how Powell’s rivalry with Vice President Dick Cheney “defined an era.”
A longtime journalist whose reporting credentials include the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, Mann, 74, has written bestselling and award-winning books, including Rise of the Vulcans: A History of Bush’s War Cabinet. In this latest work, he shows how the friendship between Powell and Cheney turned to enmity and how the conflict between them shaped America's place in the world and its internal political debates.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Another useless figurehead who follows Obama’s doctrines -
“Present” and “Leading from Behind”.
Oh look!! Colon’s trying to peddle another book.
Colon Powell is a Republican except for:
when it comes time to vote for a Republican;
Say something in support of a Republican;
advance anything proposed by a Republican; and/or
Campaign for a Republican.
Yup, he sure is Mitt Romney’s kind of Republican.
So a critical adviser is only supposed to advise that which he thinks his boss agrees with?
Talk about a perfumed general!
Because he had no spine. Hes a whining yes man.
Colin was just playing his role. Guess he still lives on the plantation.
Should I click and read this article. From the excerpt, it sounds like a Mea Culpa, but a half-arsed on.
One of the hardest things you can ever have to do is sit in a meeting, particularly a big meeting about a major strategy or crisis, and say “no”. Bosses hate that word, and they make your life hell when you use it. The vast majority of the time, you avoid saying no but offer alternative strategies, but a head honcho with a clear vision of what he wants is a big problem to what will sound like as weaseling to him.
That is when you need to go on record opposing, and your butt had better be prepared to outline the reasons why, because it takes a large pair to do it, but the difference between keeping your position and losing it is the difference between just saying you oppose and can’t say why, and offering a clear opinion about what you think will go wrong with it.
... But Powell says he just couldn’t do either.
“Wouldn’t have worked”
We DID depose Saddam.
And for those who say Saddam kept the peace, his supporters must acknowledge his use of torture, murder, rape rooms, and secret police to keep down whomever he wanted (whether they be rival political factions or terrorists).
Didn’t Colin Powell vote for Obama (twice?).
What did he think of our war to topple Gaddafi?
In the Arab world, Saddam was par for the course.
Well, well, well, isn’t that convenient.
I don’t believe he has a book out. James Mann has written one about Powell and Cheney.
Powell was a toady to Bush same as he was to Obama. I wonder if Ike, MacArthur, Patton, Lemay, Nimitz etc would have waffled.
Read this from DU: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1782940
Don’t believe a word that jackass says. That # let Scooter Libby get unjustly prosecuted by another thug
Powell is over-rated as a general. He is nothing but a self serving, pompous, holier-than-thou, ass!
A real profile in leadership, isn’t he?
You should have told him, then resigned. But you pussed out. Weak leaders fold.
He is a real trans bitch.
May he rot before he gets to hell and then burn forever.
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