Colin Powell talks to Al Jazerra about his speech at the UN during the run-up to war in Iraq. The moment I lost all the respect I had for him--and I had had a lot of respect for the man. He either knew--or should have known.
From Al Jazerra English on Youtube:
Colin Powell was the US secretary of state on September 11, 2001, as then-President Bush's point man on the world stage.
Powell made the case for war with Iraq at the United Nations.
On behalf of the administration, Powell said Saddam Hussein was trying to buy raw material from Africa to build nuclear weapons and he gave an elaborate description of an Iraqi weapons programme, that as it turned out, never existed.
Now, Powell says the US government got it wrong.
In part one of a two part interview, Al Jazeera's Tony Harris sat down with Powell to talk about his regrets at being the face of false intelligence.
Our correspondent asked the former US diplomat if the information he gave to the UN Security Council had been verified.
(If anyone can find part two--I'll put the link here)
18 Comments
Boise_Lib*promote
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LawdeedawSorry this isn't getting the votes. I think it is because people need someone to blame, and you can't blame someone who was duped.
GeeSussFreeK>> ^Lawdeedaw:
Sorry this isn't getting the votes. I think it is because people need someone to blame, and you can't blame someone who was duped.
Ya, he totally got shafted here. I don't know that I like him that much anyway, but this is pretty shitty any way you cut it.
radxHis former Chief of Staff was interviewed about this on DemocracyNow as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8tqfIlUIlU
Boise_Lib>> ^radx:
His former Chief of Staff was interviewed about this on DemocracyNow as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8tqfIlUIlU
Thanks radx I saw that one.
The only person Cheney doesn't blame is Cheney--Cheney is a dick.
I like Wilkerson, I still say they should have known.
Wilkerson says he had doubts about the intel--but his boss still gave the speech.
MycroftHomlz*promote
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BicycleRepairManThis is so much bullshit, everyone outside the US partiot haze knew all this "intelligence" was crap, in 2002. Hans Blix and the UN weapons inspectors said it again and again: No evidence of WMDs or even WMD intent. And Powell is simply lying when claiming the UK accepted the intelligence, they admitted as much in the Downing Street memo. This is all bullshit from Powell. Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney and Rove didn't "accept" the intelligence, they fucking ordered it.
westySo he is admitting that he himself didn't do his job in vetting what was in the document and checking that the sauces were correct , WASN'T IT HIS JOB TO CHECK THAT THE SOURCES WERE CORRECT ( ie not coming from one guy that was waterboarded). sure he has other people to go over the document but you cannot just say OH THEY TOLD ME SO I BELIEVED IT.
evan if he is or was inosent Why are we still not having a high profile trile of the people that presented the intelligence as being of value ?
Also the Neo-conservatives just wanted an excuse to go to war with these countries the intelligence didn't even matter they had and still have an agenda we dont know about and they simply used the events of 911 and bullshit inteligence as a way to get what they want , they have no intrest in doing whats best for "the people" they are only intrestead in whats best for them and "there people" which is probably 200,000 or so super ritch people.
I dont see why we dont try governments that go to war with people and fail , they are guilty of the killing of many people us troops and people on the other side. If we don't have triles and understand how this can happen then it will happen time and time again.
DeanoHaven't watched this yet but jeez, I remember his presentation and you could tell it was all bullshit at the time anyway. They needed a pretext to go to war and so the lies flowed.
MycroftHomlzI always thought republicans should have seriously considered supporting Colin Powell for president. It is sad that he was thrown to the wolves.
MrFiskAccording to this book, the CIA didn't cherry pick information, they just had terrible information.
conansays...Actually the stories about iraqi WMDs originated from an informant named curveball who presented this information to german intelligence (BND), but they quickly exposed him as liar craving for validation. The intel was given to allied intelligence agencies ALONG with the assessment. All other agencies just filed the info. All but the CIA which in full awarness of the phoniness decided to use it for Powell's speech. In my eyes that justifies or even compels to bringing the whole bush administration to court.
LawdeedawI agree with the trial westy, but to say the CEO should have vetted information and seen through the lies of professionals is a bit much.
If the sources know one thing, it is how to manipulate--even one of their own.
>> ^westy:
So he is admitting that he himself didn't do his job in vetting what was in the document and checking that the sauces were correct , WASN'T IT HIS JOB TO CHECK THAT THE SOURCES WERE CORRECT ( ie not coming from one guy that was waterboarded). sure he has other people to go over the document but you cannot just say OH THEY TOLD ME SO I BELIEVED IT.
evan if he is or was inosent Why are we still not having a high profile trile of the people that presented the intelligence as being of value ?
Also the Neo-conservatives just wanted an excuse to go to war with these countries the intelligence didn't even matter they had and still have an agenda we dont know about and they simply used the events of 911 and bullshit inteligence as a way to get what they want , they have no intrest in doing whats best for "the people" they are only intrestead in whats best for them and "there people" which is probably 200,000 or so super ritch people.
I dont see why we dont try governments that go to war with people and fail , they are guilty of the killing of many people us troops and people on the other side. If we don't have triles and understand how this can happen then it will happen time and time again.
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