In an August 24 interview, "former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has told the Mainichi [a major newspaper in Japan] he believes the Iraq War - which began while he was in office in 2003 - could have been averted."
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/...
Duh.
Point #1: Go on, Mr. Powell, tell us who could have averted the war? The obvious answer is ... you. Anyone can say "the war could have been averted." Even I can say that. But I can't say these words, truthfully: "*I* could have averted the war." Try saying those words, Mr. Powell.
Powell said: "It was the intelligence that was wrong. I did not make up this information; I did not invent it; I did not pull it out of the air. It was information that our intelligence community stood behind."
Point #2: The intelligence was suspect when Colin Powell delivered it the UN Security Council. Powell is making the false insinuation that the "intelligence" information was unquestionable when he delivered that address. It was even more highly suspect 42 days later when the U.S. invaded Iraq. For example:
The "evidence" that Iraq was trying to build a nuclear weapons capability by buying nuclear materials from Africa ... proven false before the invasion.
http://www.cnn.com/...
Also the "evidence" that Iraq had imported high-grade aluminum tubing for, what was it? Rocket bodies, or nuclear fuel rods, or something ... take your pick ... suspicious before the invasion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
http://www.leadingtowar.com/...
Even Colin Powell's allegations before the UN of a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda had been proven false, and blamed on "poor staffwork" before the March 19th invasion:
http://www.theage.com.au/...
What evidence remained? We knew there was no "advanced nuclear weapon development program," the weapons inspectors were claiming, categorically, that there were no stockpiles of chemical, biological or neurological agents. The "evidence" Colin Powell presented on 05 February 2003 was extremely weak; and he knows that. Claiming that the "intelligence agencies stood behind it" is a CYA; he knew it was weak. He said nothing. Go on, Mr. Powell, tell us who could have averted the war?
Point #3: Powell trots out the same old claim that the Bush Administration did not lie when it said that it believed that the WMD existed. Let's never lose sight of the fact that the lie was not that the Administration believed that the WMD existed ; the lie was that they possessed irrefutable proof of the existence of those "vast stockpiles" of chemical, biological and neurological weapons. They did not have proof, and they knew they did not have that proof.
They were lying to us, to the entire world, when they said that they knew the WMD were there, and they knew exactly where they were. They did not. They were asked to provided the location of only one of the many stockpiles they claimed to know of. Had they produced one site, one only, that possessed a single gram of what they claimed existed in tons, the rest of those "vast stockpiles" would have been conceded. They would not. We know, now, why they would not.
Point #4: In the interview Powell claimed that, in his judgment, had Iraq proved that it had no WMD, there would have been no invasion. In other words, Powell is using the illogical argument that it was up to Iraq to prove it was defenseless, not up to the claimants of an "imminent threat" to prove their own claims. In other works, Saddam Hussein is responsible for Powell's lies. Colin Powell wants to hold someone else responsible for his own actions. Listen, friend ... NO ONE is responsible for my actions. I am. I, alone, have responsibility for what I do and say.
This interview did not surprise me because it told me things I did not already know. This interview surprised me because it reveals the absolute cravenness of this man, who I once respected. I am always surprised to discover just how deep the cowardice was in America's leadership when the Bush Administration led the nation, with abject lies, into a war against Iraq. Iraq was a tiny, impoverished, defenseless nation when it was attacked by the world's largest and most powerful military, which makes that attack an act of cowardice in itself. It surprises me to learn how that cowardice pervaded the entire nation. Weakness of character.
I guess maybe I should stop being surprised by such demonstrations of weakness. I think what's flawed is my own opinion of the American people.