Powell defends war after questioning rationale for it in interview

[huckleberry]

Looks like Powell got called out to the woodshed!

BY RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday reiterated his support for the war in Iraq after seeming to suggest in an earlier interview that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction had shaken his opinion.

Administration officials moved quickly to try to limit any political damage from Powell's acknowledgement in an interview with The Washington Post published Tuesday that the failure to find unconventional weapons undermined a key element of the case for war. In the interview, Powell said he wasn't sure if he would have recommended an invasion if he had known that Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction.

snip

Powell's comments were the first acknowledgement by any top administration official that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction undercuts the case for war. President Bush and other high-ranking officials have repeatedly shrugged off the failure, asserting that there were plenty other reasons to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The comments were particularly noteworthy because Powell made the case for war before the United Nations last year and is widely viewed as the administration's most trusted official worldwide.

The remarks drew complaints from the White House, and Powell followed up Tuesday with a forceful defense of the war.

more at
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/7866628.htm

[desi]

1. "widely viewed as the administration's most trusted official worldwide"

Viewed more as a Republican lap dog by many, especially in Latin America. He was neck-deep in Iran/Contra and if he were a Latin American General he would be akin to Augusto Pinochet, a war criminal.