Commentary: For Colin Powell's Post-Secretary Days,
Getting Even's Better than Getting Mad
Date: Sunday, April 24, 2005
By: Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Before George W. Bush's arrogant ideas about how to deal
with countries he doesn't like solidified into an actual doctrine of
pre-emption - or, actually, preclusion -- the prevailing policy for dealing
with hostile nations was the Powell Doctrine.
Colin Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
when his doctrine took shape. It maintained that the U.S. should exhaust all
diplomatic means to settle differences with other nations and that, when
that failed to the point of hostilities, America should confront her enemies
with overwhelming force. It was that policy that ruled the Persian Gulf
conflict in 1991 -- half a million U.S. and allied troops arrayed against
the skittish and malnourished Iraqi army and Saddam Hussein's outwitted
Republican Guard.
But the winning doctrine got rolled in 2003 when, as
secretary of state, Powell could not get his new boss to commit to anything
more than a feeble and gratuitous attempt to persuade the United Nations
that Saddam needed his you-know-what blistered and now. Ever the good
soldier, Powell made the case to the global assembly despite, as we now
know, having serious reservations about his own arguments. Quite possibly,
he not only suspected but knew at the time that there was no hard evidence
of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But he went along to get along.
There is every reason to suspect that Powell's decision to
resign at the end of the first Bush term was not strictly voluntary. He had
been kept out of the loop, out of the room and out of the inner circle. His
advice had been routinely ignored, even scoffed at by the White House war
hounds like Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. Most insiders
believe that Powell's resignation was just a face-saving courtesy. If he
hadn't offered it, Bush would have demanded it. Besides, he had his kind of
people waiting in the wings; Condoleezza Rice would never be disagreeable.
What an ending for a man who was, once upon a time, the
king of the popularity poll. Who can forget how close he came to running for
president in 1996, riding the tall waves of public approval with both the
Republicans and Democrats fighting over him and a book that seemed to have
half the country waiting in line at his book signings.
He wouldn't have been the first black American to seek the
White House -- there was Shirley Chisholm and Jesse Jackson before him --
but he would have been the first with promise of making more than an
honorable showing.
For a bestseller of that caliber to end up in the discount
bin was an astonishing final chapter.
But, it wasn't the end after all. Turns out, there is an
epilogue. It might be titled "Powell's Revenge."
In his last days at State, Powell acknowledgement that the
WMD premise was overstated.
Then, one month into the second Bush administration, the
former Mr. Secretary told the London Daily Telegraph that he was "very sore"
that the White House had snookered him and used him to make false arguments
before the U.N.
"I will forever be known as the one who made the case," he
told the newspaper. Powell is not the snarling, bitter type, but you could
just imagine the words had a sour tone. There was, he added, "too much
resting on assumptions and worst-case scenarios" inside the Bush clubhouse.
Last month, Powell told a German magazine that the Bushies
"were sometimes too loud, too direct, perhaps we made too much noise" about
Iraq. And he repeated his disgust with having been misled over WMD, this
time describing himself as "furious and angry."
Now, to the further consternation of his former
colleagues, Powell has been poor-mouthing Bush's nominee for U.N.
ambassador, John R. Bolton, the foreign policy operative with a reputation
for bullying subordinates and whose attraction to the U.N. is similar to a
tornado's attraction to trailer parks -- it wants to destroy them.
Reportedly, Powell has let several senators know that
Bolton is, indeed, a problem child who does not deserve the honor of
membership in the world's most prominent and powerful peace-keeping body.
Unfortunately for the White House, they can no longer
control Powell with threats of excommunication or disrespect. He's a free
agent now, with a mission of his own.
Just as papa's got a brand new bag, Powell apparently has
a brand new policy: Don't get mad, get even.
Do you think Colin Powell's resignation was voluntary?
No 59 %
Yes 28 %
Don't care 11 %
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auntglo says:
AMEN trina64, your comment is the most sensible 1 I have
read.
datdreadguhl says:
Powell did not end up in the discount bin...he is/was a
good soldier who always made his case. read more
realitychk says:
No child is that out of control at school, not unless she
is out of control at home. Personally, I read more
lashondia says:
I think it was Aretha that said she had to have it! :-)
I agree with you, My mom made read more
JM1GuitarDrums says:
When we were kids, we knew better than to put our hands of
grown folks or even to talk to read more
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Commentary: For Colin Powell's Post-Secretary Days,
Getting Even's Better than Getting Mad
For a bestseller of Powell's caliber to end up in the
discount bin was astonishing. But, it wasn't the end after all. And the
epilogue might be titled "Powell's Revenge."
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