What's up with Colin Powell?

[Lasher]

First he wanted to be Adelai Stevenson at the UN and go upside Saddam's head with the evidence on Iraq. He put on a nice show, but he didn't change anyone's opinion with the evidence he presented.

Now, he wants to be Kissinger and send Bush to North Korea in a daring Nixon to China kind of move.

Now, one of the reasons Nixon to China worked was because Kissinger didn't sit around and talk to the fucking press about how he was going to send Nixon to China.... He just fucking did it. And THEN he told the press how fucking good he was.

I had expected Powell to be an effective Secretary of State, but 2 years in what exactly has he accomplished?

I'm beginning to think that either he doesn't believe in what the rest of the administration is trying to do on the international scene (from what I hear he kept pushing for a second UN resolution on Iraq long after the rest of the administration realized it was doomed), or that he's more concerned with carving a place in History than anything else.

Thoughts?

(btw, I know Stevenson was UN Ambassador and not Sec State, and that Kissinger was NSA and not Sec State at the time Nixon went to China, but Powell is choosing his roles, not me)

 

[patient1]

Biding his time for Richard Perl, Rumsfeld, & Wolfowitcz to be discredited?

 

[crazybbwgirl]

I think he's is morally crushed at sending troops to Iraq to get killed. I think the Gulf War hurt him in a way. He was the strongest one in wanting to end that war - even though others (Wolfowitz I think) were urging BI to stay on a bit longer. I like him - anyone who's smart enough to turn down a chance to run for President is ok in my book.

 

[kotori]

I think he's been boondoogled by the hawks. Like another former general-turned-politician (Ike), he has a healthy dislike for the military-industrial complex. When it all washes out, I think he'll still come up smelling like a rose. I think he has integrity that is lacking in the rest of the cabinet.

 

[Lasher]

I think he's been boondoogled by the hawks. Like another former general-turned-politician (Ike), he has a healthy dislike for the military-industrial complex. When it all washes out, I think he'll still come up smelling like a rose. I think he has integrity that is lacking in the rest of the cabinet.

That's an interesting point.

I've never really believed he was ideologically inline with the remainder of the foreign policy team W put together.

Could it be behind the scenes in fighting keeping him from doing what he wants? Schultz had the same kind of issues during the Reagan years.

I'm still baffled by the North Korea idea, though it would definitely make more sense seen in this light.

 

[nimbus9]

He should have put his integrity on the line quite a while back. He has gone down several notches in my opinion.

None of the top military people want to be in Iraq.

 

[Azwed]

I tend to agree with Kotori. I don't think Powell is nearly as conservative as the rest of the administration and is defnietly against them on several issues.

The affirmative action issue is another one his against them on.

 

[patient1]

I tend to agree with Kotori. I don't think Powell is nearly as conservative as the rest of the administration and is defnietly against them on several issues.

The affirmative action issue is another one his against them on.

Affirmitive action or pre-emption?

 

[Azwed]

Affirmitive action or pre-emption?

both.

He has sated on a couple of occasions that he is for affirmative action and is against the administration in the michigan affirmative action case.

 

[lavender]

Lasher,

Just a bit of a historical lesson on Nixon's China visit. This was actually a bit of an international catastrophe. Bush was the Ambassador to the UN when this occurred. No one knew Nixon was going to China, there was a meeting at the UN. Bush didn't even know - and all the sudden it comes out. Bush as representative of the United States had to recognize "Red" China as the legitimate government at this time.

It was actually quite a blunder.

In Kissinger's acclaimed biography, it details this to a great extent.

 

[70/30]

Biding his time for Richard Perl, Rumsfeld, & Wolfowitcz to be discredited?

1 down (perle resigned two days ago--he's not happy he got exposed, gonna sue the 'terrorist journalist' for libel)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23380-2003Mar13.html

 

[70/30]

Not good to be far removed from the base and/or the leadership of your political party--at least that's what Jefferson told Burr.

 

[patient1]

1 down (perle resigned two days ago--he's not happy he got exposed, gonna sue the 'terrorist journalist' for libel)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23380-2003Mar13.html

Nice link. What I've read says that he only resigned as chairman, but remains on the board. He will offer his retainer for lobbying the other boardmembers to the families of servicepeople harmed in the war. I think that the more he is in the press, (exposed for what he is) , the better the nation will be.

 

[70/30]

you're right, maybe Quayle will get a promotion and a script.

it's not all about business; if anyone makes this look like a fight to take over the mid-east it is Perle-- http://www.americanpolitics.com/20030327Koop4.html

In late September of 2001, taking advantage of the attacks of September 11th, Perle laid out his agenda clearly:

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and other senior administration officials are quite right to say that it is a totally new kind of war that the Free World now faces. But even though it is new, the Vichyite contingent would be quite wrong to extrapolate from that that the United States and its allies are impotent. Even if we don't yet know the whole story about last week's atrocities, we know enough to act, and to act decisively.

...Regimes supporting terrorism have many different motives. Some, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria, do so because they agree with the fanatical outlook of their protégés. Saddam Hussein, crazed by a desire for vengeance, pays the families of suicide bombers. The Saudis tolerate terrorism out of fear and weakness, hoping thereby to deflect them on to other potential victims.

...As the United States builds a coalition to combat terrorism, it must remember that including states that are themselves sponsors of terrorism, or ready to tolerate it, carries a heavy price. The last time around, in building the coalition to liberate Kuwait in 1990-91, we paid a cost that we should never again bear.

...For example, Syria was invited to join the Gulf war coalition. Its military contribution to the campaign was minimal, yet in exchange for getting inside the Western tent it obtained the latitude to continue the use of and the sponsorship of terrorism -- especially in Lebanon. It has continued to destabilize the region. There are those who argue that even Yasser Arafat, a terrorist himself, who has recruited suicide bombers, commemorated their murderous acts, and ordered the assassination of American diplomats, should join the campaign to combat terrorism.

...Some countries may be unwilling or unable to participate in a coalition that demands a respect for the values and norms of western civilization. The nature of their hold on power may be inconsistent with genuine opposition to terrorism. Such countries are part of the problem, not the solution, and we neither need their help nor would benefit from their professions of support."

*****************
Not the ideal guy to be chairman/a leading policy developer, especially since he gives more interviews than Cheney, GWB, and Powell combined.

 

[jodarby]

Thoughts?

me)

I think a lot of people are terrified of North Korea, especially someone like Powell who knows that quell an invasion there would take more than a million or more troops from the United States.

North Korea does have nuclear weapons and would use them if attacked. They also have biological and chemical weapons that could be launched all the way to the U.S. if they felt threatened.

In artillery alone, without crossing the border, they could kill everyone for hundreds of miles in South Korea. There is much of it that even Americans doing carpet bombings could not take it all.

So yes, he want to diffuse the situation. Wouldn't you?