Powell: "I wonder what'll happen when we put 500,000 troops into Iraq & find nothing?"

[kpete]

Powell walked into my office and without so much as a fare-thee-well, he walked over to the window and he said, "I wonder what'll happen when we put 500,000 troops into Iraq and comb the country from one end to the other and find nothing?" And he turned around and walked back in his office. And I—I wrote that down on my calendar—as close for—to verbatim as I could, because I thought that was a profound statement coming from the secretary of state, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/hubris-rachel-maddow-documentary-iraq-war-david-corn

[riverbendviewgal]

1. Many die for a lie

Powell is j ust as guilty as Cheny and bush

[still_one]

28. Not even close. Cheney and bush made the decision

[bluestateguy]

2. We never even put in 200,000

Eric Shinseki said that closer to 500,000 would be needed for a successfull mission.

His advice was rejected and he was fired.

[City Lights]

3. As long as our corporate overloads keep the gravy train coming,

nothing else matters.

[magellan]

4. Waiting for the Powell apologists

As for "I wonder what'll happen when we put 500,000 troops into Iraq and comb the country from one end to the other and find nothing?" ...

Nothing will happen, Colin. Not a goddamned thing. Because IOKIYAR.

[noiretextatique]

7. they're here

see below.

[rdharma]

5. Some are still trying to give Powell a pass!

That statement proves he was deliberately lying to the UN and US!

[EastKYLiberal]

6. Powell has redeemed himself, IMO.

And has admitted his mistakes. And I truly believe he feels remorse for those mistakes.

The other guys? Not so much.

[HangOnKids]

14. How has he redeemed himself? He has admitted Jack Shit.

You truly believe he feels remorse? Why?

[Pisces]

23. Maybe most of us live in the real world not the black and white one anonymous posters on DU live in.

The people in Washington lie everyday to the people, they say nothing about a million truths that they know would upset the
balance.

We have drones today, CIA yesterday. We have always killed people, always tortured people for info etc. Now because of
technology we have proof and people can't look away like they use to. Let's not pretend that fake wars, torture and murder are recent inventions.

[rdharma]

25. Let's not pretend that fake wars, torture and murder are recent inventions.

Who said they were?

[Enrique]

8. exactly

"nothing"

[Waiting For Everyman]

9. We didn't learn the lesson from Viet Nam, and so it happened again.

It's that simple really. By now in our history, there have been so many trumped-up bogus wars, that no educated person can say that it's a surprise. If any doubt that, read Gen. Smedley Butler's War Is A Racket, and consider that in context of what we've seen since that era.

It's... What. The. 1%. Do.

I for one, was not the slightest bit surprised that the premise for the Iraq War turned out to be bullshit. What would be surprising, would be if the reverse were true.

So how come "the public" is so ignorant, after seeing the events of their own lifetime go by (especially, specifically, Viet Nam)? They don't want to know. They don't care about the awful stuff that goes on, until and unless it happens to them.

Daniel Ellsberg told us. McNamara later admitted it. Is that a secret? No, actually it issn't, and wasn't then either. Not at all. Hundreds of thousands got out in the street to make the point. It didn't take "research" to dig up the facts.

The most shocking thing to me about the Iraq War, is that boomer parents allowed their kids to take part in it. I don't mean to be harsh, but it's very hard for me to have sympathy for those parents. They should've known better. And they should've made sure their kids knew better. My loved ones sure as hell did, after what my late husband told them (a VN vet) and I told them.

This surprise about the surprise, surprises me.

[Solly Mack]

10. Fuck all of them. Powell included.

Oh, poor me. I was concerned. I was skeptical about the information I was getting but I believe in loyalty so I did my duty. Please! Don't blame me. Love me! Love me! Love me!

Fart Noises


Also from MotherJones.


The U.N. Deception: What Exactly Colin Powell Knew Five Years Ago, and What He Told the World

[Initech]

11. Who cares how many die or what the diplomatic consequences are? There's profit to be had!

[Lars39]

12. Wish I'd saved that pic of Powell and his wife greeting King Fahad of Saudi Arabia.

Obvious that they were long time friends.

[Zambero]

13. Just have Bush do a gala comedy skit looking for WMD's

Under the bed, under the desk, in the broom closet, etc. That really took the edge off everything, a trillion $$$ down the drain, regional instability, and thousands of unnecessary deaths.

[jwirr]

15. That statement seems to indicate that he knew the junk he was

selling to the UN was false.

[iandhr]

16. Powell had doubts from the start.

I wondered what motived him to go along.

The whole Iraq war was a clash with the Powell doctrine.

[zipplewrath]

18. Read his book

Powell was the original "go along to get along". Even in the face of abject racism, his typical and preferred response was to avoid the conflict and look for a greener pasture. He rarely "stood" for anything and usually just tried to avoid everything. When he was in a position of authority, he was more than willing to use it for what he thought was right. But he'd never fight in anyway from a subordinate position, even if he thought he was right.

[Squinch]

17. Powell knew it was a sham, and he knowingly allowed himself to be used to push it onto us.

He is as culpable - if not more so - than all the rest of them.

[peace13]

19. He sold his soul when he testified for war!

Gotta wonder how he sleeps. So many dead soldiers and babies and mothers and fathers. ... All dead. To say nothing of the millions who became homeless and injured.

[rdharma]

20. Nuremberg Trial classification of Powell.

Powell would have been classified as "Class II Mitläufer" according to Nuremberg Nazi war crimes trial definitions.

At "Mitläufer" is one who is not convinced by the ideology of the group they follow, but they cooperate with that group because they lack courage and are opportunistic. They just "go along to get along". Butt kissing ladder climbers!

[kenny blankenship]

21. Depends entirely on your WH successor and the opposition party

if they want you to get away with it, you will.

[Liberal In Red State]

22. Hard to believe that a person with Powell's background could be complicite in the actions

Of the Bush Administration. Who really has the back of the US soldier? You would think that exmilitary would make sure that he would not send his brothers and sisters in arms to war unless it was truly needed. Shameful waste of life . . . For a cause that was a lie. . . . Betrayed by a brother who should have been a voice for them! I can recall my brother saying at the time "if Powell says it is so . . . Then it is true." So sad.

[HeiressofBickworth]

24. Don't ever forget Powell's first claim to fame

regarding My Lie, Vietnam, you remember, the 1968 massacre of civilian women, children, old people, pigs and dogs? Per Wikipedia: "Powell's handling of the assignment was later characterized by some observers as "whitewashing" the atrocities of Mỹ Lai." Long before Bush's War, Powell was willing to put aside any humanity he may have had in order to obey orders and further his career. It was no surprise to me that when he was pushed to declare a political party, he chose Republican. I have never had any respect for him.

[kenny blankenship]

29. Powell was recruted into politics right after his My Lai debut

He was brought to DC to work for Caspar Weinberger at Office of Management and Budget under Richard Nixon.

Later he would work for Cap Weinberger under Reagan, this time at DoD. iran Contra special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh discovered that Powell had lied to Congress under oath regarding his knowledge of his boss' daily record keeping. Weinberger lied to Congress and to the Special Prosecutor's investigation and was indicted by a grand jury regarding the his knowledge of arms for hostage deal made by the Reagan Administration, in which as SecDef he was a key player. Weinberger's office "diary" turned up in the Library of Congress after he had sworn that no such record existed, and it when examined it showed he had knowledge of the illegal arms for hostages swap. Colin Powell perjured himself before the Congressional investigation by lying about its existence and his knowledge of it. During the later interviews with the Special Prosecutor's investigators he admitted to knowing of its existence and the particulars of where Weinberger kept it. His perjured testimony to Congress was instrumental in Caspar Weinberger's plan to lie to Congress and cover up Reagan's arms for hostages deal. Small wonder then that he would lie so readily to the United Nations General Assembly. That's who Colin Powell is and what he does.

Maybe someone would care to take a stab at explaining why this man seems to enjoy unquestioned credibility and proves useful for advancing foul cover ups time after time, in infamous Republican administrations after Republican administrations, and why, even now, after he came within an inch of treasonous insubordination against a Democrat President and after he lied this country into another horrifically unjust and wasteful war, there are some anxious to believe him - even here. It beats me.

[WinkyDink]

26. 5000 will die?

[aquart]

27. And yet, that honorless creep didn't resign.

The date marked on the calendar is the date he should have.

[kenny blankenship]

30. Colin Powell: putting the Banality in Evil since 1969

[AnotherMcIntosh]

31. What would happen? Obviously, some people would get rich.