Colin Powell and his steamy pile of shit

The BBQ Pit
1

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6770575/

From meet the press, bolding mine.

(The picture shows Abbas sitting on the shoulders of a bunch of men, being carried through a crowd. He’s got a huge shit eating grin and is giving some thumbs up type gesture)

MR. RUSSERT: Let me ask you about the Middle East. This is a photograph seen around the world. Mahmoud Abbas, who in all likelihood will be the next leader of the Palestinian people, being carried around by terrorist organizations. Zakariya Zubeidi and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and one of Israel’s most wanted men is carrying him on his shoulders. How can we tolerate that?

SEC’Y POWELL: ***Well, it’s disturbing. And I know that what Mr. Abbas is doing is running for election. And he has to reach out to all parts of the Palestinian community. ***

Are you fucking kidding me? [powell]It’s ok Tim, he needs the terrorist vote too[/powell]

Additional vocal acrobatics…

SEC’Y POWELL: Now, even though that picture is disturbing, what he has been saying with respect to the need to end terror and the need to try to persuade all segments of the Palestinian population to move away from terror and to move toward this opportunity for peace, that I believe is his prevailing position. And I think that if he prevails in the election on January 9–and that’s up to the Palestinian people to decide who should be the president of their authority–I think he knows that the only way forward with a successful election behind him is to reform the Palestinian Authority, end corruption, make sure that it’s an authority that rests on law, reform the security services.

MR. RUSSERT: This past week, he seems to be pandering to the terrorists.

SEC’Y POWELL: *Well, as I said, that particular scene was disturbing, but I don’t think it reflects Mr. Abbas’ overall approach to governing. ***

So we can’t prove the most tenious of links between SH and OBL, yet a guy sitting on terrorists shoulders and giving a fucking thumbs up just gets brushed off like that? What the fuck are these guys smoking?

Not that anyone cares, but more shit…

(btw the text doesn’t convey how defensive Powell was here. Take a look at the interview, he was lying through his teeth)

**MR. RUSSERT: ** There’s a front-page report in The Washington Post today that the administration is considering a prison to detain alleged terrorists where they do not have enough evidence to bring them to prosecution. What’s your role in that and do you seem…

SEC’Y POWELL: * I am not familiar with that and I can’t talk to it.*

MR. RUSSERT: * The State Department is involved.*

SEC’Y POWELL: * I just don’t have the facts on that one.*

MR. RUSSERT: Why would the United States detain people for life without bringing them to trial?

**SEC’Y POWELL: ** I have no information on this one, Tim.

I used to like the guy, at least before I discovered his lack of spine.

2

In the paper today Abbas was telling Palestinians to stop firing rockets on Jewish settlements. His message was to the effect “If you keep doing this, you’ll just give them more excuses to criminally invade our territory.”

They portrayed him as a moderate who is trying to reduce terrorism while still looking like he sympathizes.

3

I think that in many ways Colin Powell is an admirable man. His lack of a spine, if you define it as unwillingness in the face of the facts to challenge or defy an organization of which he is a part, dates from 1968 or earlier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell). Consider it a victory of the virtue of loyalty over the virtue of truth. While I concede that this may sometimes be the moral choice, his current employers certainly have taken full advantage of this trait for grossly immoral ends.

4

Until the new administration is put into place, Colin Powell is a representative of George W. Bush. He has a spine, but it would be terribly inappropriate and disloyal of the Secretary of State to insert his personal opinions into the conversation when he is there as an official spokesperson of President George W. Bush.

It is my opinion that Powell and Bush have a completely different vision of what role the United States should play in the international community. I don’t believe he agrees with detaining people for life without a trial nor do I believe he supported Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. So now he is relegated to playing an ambassador type role. He will answer honestly when he can and he will avoid answering altogether when he cannot answer in a way that is flattering to his boss.

5

Just out of curiosity, what would you have him say about the probable next elected leader of the Palestinians? The administration got a lot of grief at first for refusing to deal with Nobel Peace Prize winner Yassir Arafat, who was a far worse terrorist than Abbas ever will be. Of course the world eventually came around to the US’ viewpoint on him. Now we got a new guy coming in. Doesn’t it make sense to wait to see if he actually does anything objectionable before marginalizing him? It’s not like there’s a long list of potential candidates for the office who are more moderate than him – he’s about the least terrorist of the bunch.

Would you have Secretary Powell say something like “Abbas is a holocast-denying terrorist-loving piece of garbage and unless the Palestinians can find a candidate more to our liking they will never have a State”? Even if it’s true, how would saying that help the prospects for peace in the region?

6

This is precisely what makes him spineless.

There are some really bad things going on that he could speak out against, yet he remains silent because of “loyalty”. He should be loyal to his country and his heart, not Bush.

7

Well he wasn’t asked for his opinion he was asked what his role was and why such a policy would be pursued. If the State Department is involved and he is the Secretary of State, he comes off as a total idiot by claiming–

                                  *I am not familiar with that and I can't talk to it.
              I just don't have the facts on that one.
              I have no information on this one, Tim.*

It looks like Trudeau is right on the money.

Department of Toady Affairs

8

I agree with your comments regarding Abbas, Manhattan, but what about the “life sentence without a trial because we don’t have enough evidence for one” thing? What international harm would his honest opinion on that have caused?

9

It’s not so much what he said here, it’s more about all those other nonexistant links. Playing them up will haunt us for years to come.

10

Yes, Powell did a really professional job of dropping the ball on new years eve. Practice makes perfect.

11

I think it’s pretty well known in Washington that Powell and Bush do not see eye to eye. Rather than fire Powell or ask him to resign with just a few weeks left, Bush is allowing Powell to simply finish up his lame duck term. If Russert wants to know what Bush’s state of mind is, he should interview Condi Rice. It’s pretty clear that she’s the de facto Secy of State now.

12

I think it makes him a gentleman, not spineless. You don’t sucker punch the man who is employing you. If Powell wants to give his personal opinion about Bush’s international policy, then he is certainly free to do so once he is no longer an official representative of the President, a la George Stephanoupolos or that general (whose name I cannot recall) who blasted Bush after he retired.

13

There’s nothing to say at his level yet, from my reading of the WaPo story. Basically, the CIA and the Defense Department are asking “hey, what are we supposed to do with these guys who, if we release them, we’ll just end up recapturing or killing down the road” and the administration doesn’t yet have an response. The State Department is involved in the process of finding an answer, but one hasn’t been arrived at yet. Why give an answer if you don’t have one?

Uh huh. So am I understanding this correctly? Secretary Powell made some statements on other occasions which you don’t think he should have made so you chose an occasion when he said exactly the right thing for a Secretary of State to say to Pit him for the other stuff. Is that about it?

14

Essentially, except I don’t think he said the right thing in this case either. In a nutshell I’m annoyed that he fabricated non existant connections, and most likely downplayed actual ones. Not that it was done once mind you, it continues to be done to this day.

15

This is my opinion as well. Not that I don’t belive in dissent within the government, but I feel that only elected officials should be making public statements that can run counter to the government. If you are hired to do a job, do it and keep your opinions to yourself or resign.

16

And what is your evidence of this?

Colin Powell has gotten the weirdest sort of free ride for all this shit since… well, since the first Gulf War. I see no evidence whatsoever that the man is particularly principled or is somehow a noble outlier in Bush’s cabinet of warmongerers. The only thing I can remember him standing up for was when he voiced disagreement with Bill Clinton’s plan to allow gays into the military. He certainly jumped into Bush 2.0’s cabinet as fast as he could, and as we NOW know, Bush has been planning to invade and occupy Iraq since the very beginning.

If Powell is legitimately opposed to this invasion and all this crap, he has a funny way of opposing it.

Where, exactly, is the objective evidence that Colin Powell has some unique vision?

17

He wasn’t asked about Bush’s state of mind. He was asked a question about State Department policy, to which he pled ignorance. He is either lying or so far out of the loop as to be a meaningless figurehead. In either case, why not resign right now? He’s not fooling anybody. How is it disloyal to speak the truth?

18

Only what I’ve heard from political pundits (alas, I just pretend to be one) on Tim Russert’s show, the Diane Rheem show, etc. Their opinion is that Powell and Bush did not agree on how Bush handled the Iraqi invasion and they decided to mutually part ways.

19

Wouldn’t you just love to be a fly on the wall when someone informs GeeDubya: “Colin Powell is writing a book.”

20

I know somebody in our country’s foreign service who told me that he heard through the grapevine that Powell has referred to Rumsfeld and crew as the fen crazies*