George's big mistake was to listen to Tony

dailytelegraph.co.uk ^ | 16/03/2003 | Anne Applebaum

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Of interest...ping

[Mihalis]

George's biggest mistake was to listen to Colin.

Colin Powell screwed up in 1992 by letting Saddam off the hook. And he screws up again.

Don't come down on Tony Blair. He's been an amazing ally, one of the best we've ever had. He acted against domestic public opinion and put his political career at high risk. We can't afford to lose friends like him.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Screw France. Screw the UN. The bombing starts in five days. The UN is hereby and forthwith totally irrelevant. God Bless America!

I would tend to agree. And I would say, it's about damn time.

Just watch for last minute distractions. It should be interesting......

[whadizit]

"I would trade..........for Tony Blair any day of the week."

I agree 100%. Those who do what is right in spite of the "polls" are the kind of leaders the world needs more of.

[shhrubbery!]

After the war is over, I hope Bush sacks Powell.

Bush won't sack Powell, but Powell's stock has plunged. Not only has his advice proved worthless, but the Powell-worshippers have lost faith in him too since he ended up backing war. He won't be taken seriously anymore.

[Consort]

Rumsfeld and Powell are two different sides of the same coin and each have to fill their assigned role. Rumsfeld is the hawk and Powell is the dove as it must be. Both have their supporters and both have to do their parts at the same time.

[Destro]

Powell listened to Blair. Blair seems an amazing ally-in reality-he is a fop.

[Destro]

If you would trade for Tony Blair then I shudder for the Republican party. I am not a McCain fan either.

[Rome2000]

Saddam made a huge miscalculation.

Saddam and Osama are going to realize a little too late that there really is a difference between Democrats and Republicans.

[lainde]

BTTT

[Joe Hadenuf]

Agree, to many bad decisions. Powell needs to quietly go. To much at stake. To much time already wasted...

[Mihalis]

...Blair did what he did for his own reasons...

And what exactly are those reasons?

[jwalsh07]

I don't disagree with her analysis of the why's and wherefore's but I disagree with her conclusions.

The UN is neutered, it has been shown to be useless and the American people have caught on.

This development is a wonderful thing.

[Destro]

"I don't disagree with her analysis of the why's and wherefore's but I disagree with her conclusions."

Too early for many conclusions other than the failure of American/UK diplomacy in and out of the UN.

[Question_Assumptions]

Amen...it was Colin, not Tony, who lead us down this road AGAIN.

I think that Powell and Rumsfeld are playing a great game of "good cop/bad cop". Because Powell publicly pushed for diplomacy and UN involvement, he's got great credibility to stand up for the US when other countries start to complain. Everything I've seen from Powell is that he's been willing to stay loyal to the President. If Powell was as out of control as people seem to think, I'm sure we'd be seeing less of him.

[paul51]

the diplomatic events of the past week will go down in history as the most embarassing for the United States and Britain in a long time. Despite cajoling and bribery and flattery, Colin Powell and Jack Straw have found it nearly impossible to persuade the UN Security Council of the necessity of deposing Saddam Hussein by military force.

Oh please. In the final analysis, who cares?

[vbmoneyspender]

You sure are gloomy, and disrespectful to an ally who has put his own career on the line to back us up.

With respect, what Tony Blair has personally put on the line is as mooncast shadow compared to what the troops are putting on the line. Sure, Tony may lose his job as result of what he has done for us, which does count as a high level of courage when it comes to politicians. But the real measure of Blair's resolve should be gleaned from the fact that he is willing to see young Brits die (which is going to happen) in order to put Hussein out of business.

[Destro]

again this is what I am saying about delsuions. Powell and Rumsfeld are not playing good and bad cop.

They hate each other so much that they are not speaking to each other.

[Hugin]

Bushs real mistake was in listening to Colin Powell and the state department. They proffered the absurd advice that the US should depend on the UN for legitimization of our foriegn policy.

I'm not so sure. I don't think we would have been ready to go any sooner, and the political flak would have been worse. At least people can't say that Bush didn't try to settle this diplomatically (OK some people will say it, but it won't fly). And the side benefit is that the UN has been thouroghly discredited, and the French have been exposed as the duplicious anti-American scum they always were. Nobody will henceforth give a damn about what they think about how we handle the global War on Terror anymore. That's a good thing.