Colin Powell

This story was in yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer; it gives some idea of why much of the respect Secretary of State Powell once enjoyed is on the wane. At best he was a victim of faulty intelligence, but his credibility has taken a dive among many who at one time thought he might even make a good president.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/6496667.htm

It gives me no pleasure to post this; there was a time when I thought the Bush administration's inclusion of Powell in the cabinet gave it a much needed dose of integrity. Sadly, I no longer believe this to be the case.

Joe, did you mean to post the story of that senseless act?

Our local paper carried a two page critic of Powell's U.N. speech, point by point (A.P. Charles Hanley).

The report shows Powell's forceful assertions were built on ambiguous evidence for he most part, with other points being based on intelligence discredited myths.

None of Powell's tough words have been corroborated by investigators in Iraq.

For that matter, the whole administration looks foolish.

Clinton wagged his finger to the American people, saying, "I did not have sex with that woman." Republicans impeached him for that.

Bush, and his administration, whipped the public and Congress into a pro war mood, by exhibiting an illustrated book supposedly proving Iraq was seething with WMDs pointed directly at us.

Now we find the book was fiction, backed up only by faulty British intelligence, and warmed over Sadam atrocities "Looked through the new prism of 9/11." (Rummy)

Americans continue to die in horrible ways because of Bush. Innocent Iraq citizens are gunned down daily by our understandably scared troops.

There is no end in sight, while resistance to our occupation steadily grows.

What is worse? Clinton's dalliance with Monica, or Bush's paving the road with dead Americans in his unprovoked attack on a oil glutted sovereign nation?

It is my understanding that Powell was the only voice for moderation in the Cabinet. In the end, Powell "serves at the pleasure of the President". He was probably assigned that nasty job which he did to the best of his abilities.

Bush did take responsibility after being cornered. His statement; "I analyzed a thorough body of intelligence -- good, solid, sound intelligence ..." makes one wonder what his standards for good, solid, sound intelligence are. He certainly seems to have set the standard about as low as it can go.

Now, we find out that those "high tech aluminum tubes" that were purported to be for processing Plutonium, are useless for nuclear applications and that the government knew it.

This administration seems to have a record of distorting data. In this link to the house of representatives, the link to Lead Poisoning is particularly blatant example.

http://www.house.gov/reform/min/politicsandscience/