Powell is to the left of Gore,and has a similiar combat record. If he had been a white combat arms officer,he would have been put out of the army after his first tour in VN. His supposed pacifsm isn't anything new. He has never seen a fight he wasn't willing to run away from. Or a job he wasn't willing to do half-assed,and then take credit for the work of others whose hard work bailed him out.