Recalibrating the Awesomeness Meter

[shereads]

Powell Acknowledges Errors in Annual Terrorism Report
Associated Press
11 Jun 2004

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has acknowledged that a recent government report on global terrorism contains errors and will be corrected.

The report, called "Patterns of Global Terrorism," concluded that in 2003 the number of terrorism attacks worldwide was at its lowest point in 34 years. Bush Administration officials had offered the finding as proof the war on terror was going well.

The finding however was criticized by academics and intelligence analysts, who said a number of terrorist attacks were omitted, including attacks in Turkey and Chechnya that claimed several hundred lives.

Mr. Powell denied accusations that the data had been manipulated for political gain. The secretary said mistakes by a new terrorism data collection office contributed to an undercount of attacks.



Would that be Tom Ridge? ~ SR

 

[Guest]

Good Lord.

They really are making this up as they go, aren't they?

 

[cantdog]

There ought to be a stock slug to put up

Mr. Powell is always in a position of having to deny data manipulation for political gain, isn't he? He has to do it every few days.

Maybe there should be a little blurb the 'papers can insert into their stories. "Mr. Powell denies that the data was..." It would save typing time.

Hi sher

 

[Edward Teach]

Apricot is nice

I'm still kinda partial to apricot.

Ed

 

[Edward Teach]

[B}

Mr. Powell denied accusations that the data had been manipulated for political gain. The secretary said mistakes by a new terrorism data collection office contributed to an undercount of attacks.



Would that be Tom Ridge? ~ SR [/B]

It's a computer glitch. They used the same one they counted the WMD with.

Ed

 

[Guest]

I kinda feel sorry for Powell.

 

[cantdog]

Well, the money's good.

 

[shereads]

Powell could have stopped the war by resigning in protest before agreeing to present false information to the U.N. I feel sorry for him too, but I'm not sure why.

 

[shereads]

Re: There ought to be a stock slug to put up

Maybe there should be a little blurb the 'papers can insert into their stories. "Mr. Powell denies that the data was..." It would save typing time.

Do you think there isn't one?

Right now someone at Powell's office is at Office Depot having a stamp made for State Department press releases: "Statements and assertions by the Secretary of State on behalf of the administration may be based on erroneous information."

 

[Clare Quilty]

Powell, as well as his fat son, are tools. How can he allow the Bush administration to make a fool of him over and over, dragging his hard-earned reputation through the muck and mire, when it has been obvious on many occasions that he doesn't agree with what he's forced to say? So much for personal integrity and a sense of honor.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

... dragging his hard-earned reputation through the muck and mire ... So much for personal integrity and a sense of honor.

I don't know about the fat son, but what Claire said is why I feel sorry for Colon Powell. All that time spent earning an admirable reputation.

Honour and integrity are almost as easily lost as virginity ... and there is no such thing as being a little pregnant.

 

[Guest]

I felt a painful thing for Powell from the moment he accepted his position. I believe he must have struggled awfully throughout his time in this office, but if he truly missed an opportunity to change for good the events we know today, then I think it and him tragic.

In Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra", at a consciously painful moment, Marc Antony cries out, I have offended reputation (III.xi). As a great soldier and leader he realizes losing his honour is worse than death.

Perdita

 

[shereads]

I believe he must have struggled awfully throughout his time in this office, but if he truly missed an opportunity to change for good the events we know today, then I think it and him tragic.

Military training removes something from people, to make room for the unquestioning obedience to authority that's necessary to send them into battle. Maybe they never get it back.

 

[cantdog]

Not if they like having a career.

I don't feel as bad as that for him.

 

[Guest]

Well, the money's good.

Well, there is that.

But, hey, I won't let people make me look like an idiot for money.

We've got Adam Sandler for that.

 

[cantdog]

So he lacks the integrity to stop it from happening, and he takes the money.

And the power, and the mentions in the history books.

Poor kid.

 

[shereads]

But, hey, I won't let people make me look like an idiot for money.

You're not in advertising, I guess.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

... I won't let people make me look like an idiot for money. We've got Adam Sandler for that.

I'm sorry!

I didn't recognize you, Mr. Sandler. It must be your material.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Do you think Colin still has political ambitions? Is that why he's being such a good team player?

How old is he?

---dr.M.

 

[shereads]

Do you think Colin still has political ambitions? Is that why he's being such a good team player?

I'm not sure he ever had political ambitions, at least not the kind his fellow cabinet members would understand. He could have been the first black vice president, if he had run with Bush after the first Gulf War, and he refused.

I think he knows he's screwed and he's just trying to be a good soldier until this is over and he can lick his wounds in private.

Richard Clark related a discussion about who would present the WMD evidence to the U.N. Colin Powell was the only cabinet member who was against using the evidence they had, because he doubted its credibility - Since he didn't believe it, he didn't want to be the one to present it. Cheney argued, "You have the approval rating; you can take the hit."

The hit. It's almost as if Cheney knew there would be repercussions to someone's career...Hmm.

 

[rgraham666]

I always thought that Powell should have followed Napoleon's advice.

There are some orders that should not be followed, and you should resign rather than endanger the people in your command.

I'm not a big fan of Napoleon. He is the prototype of the modern dictator after all. But I'll take wisdom where ever I can find it.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Do you think Colin still has political ambitions? Is that why he's being such a good team player?

How old is he?

---dr.M.

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think he may still harbor some political ambitions. Assuming a Bush/Cheney win the next time around it would leave the GOP scrambling for a 2008 Pres/vp ticket.

In all the breakdowns I have seen on voting Demographics, people who go to church regularly, reguardless of faith, vote Republican overwhelmingly. There is one major exception to that rule, african americans, reguardless of church going, vote democrat.

The ambition behind Powell may not even be his own. It may be the GOP grooming him for a Pres. or Vp. run in the hopes of breaking the Democratic stranglehold on what is becoming a more influential voting block every year.

-Colly

 

[cantdog]

There are contexts wher that wouldn't work, resigning to avboid endangering, I mean. But the cabinet level is far divorced from the danger to begin with; it would work if you were secretary of state, I bet. You could tell people why you were refusing to participate in the madness and they'd stand around taking notes.

A lot of times, those gestures are not noted. Heroic just the same.

 

[Edward Teach]

I think we sometimes forget or never know, for that matter, how ruthless the big time power game is. People like Powell know that rewards come with playing ball and that the consequences of refusing can be very harsh.

Following the orders of a President seldom carries much historic stigma, look at Henry Kissinger regards Viet Nam. On the other hand, there is no telling what fate might have befallen Powell had he turned on Bush, et. al. It would probably have even affected his son’s position as FCC Chairman.

When a Cabinet member’s number gets called, I don’t think he has much choice but to carry the ball.

Ed

 

[shereads]

Carrying the ball, when the goal is to send people into a war that you believe will have disastrous consequences?

I don't think of myself as the most moral person on the planet, but I do believe that I know my own limits. No amount of ambition could make me gamble the lives of other people if I felt as strongly as Powell did, that it was a bet no one would win.

You may be right that he was also considering his sons' futures. Immediate and obvious retribution against the sons might have caused a public outcry, but that didn't stop the White House from taking revenge against Joseph Wilson by destroying his wife's CIA career.