Goodbye Mr. Powell
Colin Powell’s resignation was not unexpected,but that he would resign so soon before the second term officially began did come as a surprise.
Mr. Powell assumed office with the strong credentials of being a retired 4 star general and having served as Joint Chief of Staffs during Gulf War I under President George HW Bush. There was a strong expectation that he would set a course for foreign policy, but for all his international celebrity, he never developed a close bond with the president and more often than found himself at odds with Cheney, Rummy and other resident hawks like Condi Rice. His supporters say that he did not get credit for the work he did in improving relations with Russia and China. That may well be true- but that and anything good done by Mr. Powell will always be overshadowed by his image on Feb. 5, 2003, when he stood before the United Nations Security Council, and lied on the behalf of the Bush administration, making a case for the war on Iraq. That one single incident made him lose face in front of the international community.
But inspite of that, Mr. Powell was this administrations saving grace. I had hoped he would stick around because I think he fully understands the importance of resolving the Israel -Palestine conflict in order to establish stability and peace in the Middle East (Cheney and Rummy think that this issue is “overrated”) . Despite the UN debacle, he is still the most ( and probably only) respected member of the Bush cabinet overseas and the only person who is capable of the diplomacy required to address this issue.
I wonder what prompted a man like Colin Powell to stick by Bush in a war he did not support , stick out his neck and damage his credibility by lying just to make a case for this war and continue to remain in office when his foreign policy plans were constantly undercut by the White House. Will we ever find out? Maybe if he writes another book- but given the record of his loyalty I don’t think that’ll happen till 2008…..
posted by mightypen @ 9:10 PM
1 Comments:
The war was Saddam's fault, really. I mean, all he had to do was account for less than one teaspoon of dry anthrax and all this would have gone away. That's right. One teaspoonful of anthrax couldave saved all those lives... sigh.
We'll miss you Mr.Powell ... *wave*
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