Is Powell a good guy?

[evil eggplant]

It looks like Powell is having issues with his conscience. Which sets him apart from the likes of chimpy, who has no concience.

So, Powell did what all good soldiers are supposed to do. He followed orders. Even when the wheels were coming off.
So, is Powell:

A) A good guy who fucked up
B) Another shithead, but a shithead with a conscience
C) A decent guy who got played like a violin
D) Just a plain, unadorned shithead

[Booster]

1. D.

[JDPriestly]

2. A fool who does not know how to quit when he is ahead.

I used to trust him, but I certainly don't now and have decided that I never should have. Signe me, Ex-fooled by a fool

[Missy M]

3. Powell is D) and he goes way back with the bushies.

[SteppingRazor]

4. Combination of C and D...

He's something of a shithead, but got played like a fiddle by people who are even shittier than he.
I think he made his UN speech expecting to have the full support of the Bush administration, no matter what. His naivety cost him of course. There are no friends in politics, only temporary allies.

[evil eggplant]

14. well put.

Yeah, Powell got hung out to dry. So did kay and Tenet. Not that they didn't deserve it. They did.

Chimpy always needs a victim. Blame Powell, Blame the CIA. Blame his butt buddy Blair.

So, I agree with you. C and D. I think he went into it in a noble way, but when he realized what was going on with chimpy, and he had to choose "in or out" he chose "in". I guess that's the shithead part.

[SteppingRazor]

24. Heck, Tenet's the one who crapped on Powell...

He's the one who supplied bullshit intelligence -- intelligence he certainly knew to be a one-sided, pro-war outlook -- to Powell for his speech. Tenet and Powell apparently aren't on speaking terms anymore.
And then Powell left the administration and went his own way.
Tenet also retired, but Bush gave him the presidential medal of freedom.
Powell tossed aside his credibility unwittingly, but then when he realized what he'd done, he stayed and tried to make the best of it.
Tenet willingly tossed aside his credibility to climb in bed with the Bush gang. In that sense, Powell is a better man than Tenet. But both of them are relentless greedheads who belong nowhere near anything resembling power.

[BlueJac]

29. Tenet got a medal from his good buddy Bush for what he did to Powell

[evil eggplant]

31. but tenet came clean

After Powell purjured himself in front of the UN, Tenet told him that maybe his "Slam Dunk" evaluation "needed rethinking"

Yes, Tenet sold out Powell. That's part of why I'm asking about Powell being a decent guy or a shithead.

But as it was mentioned in this thread, Powell eventually know the truth, but was more concerned with protecting his career and the chimp.

For that reason alone, we can safely sit Powell in the shithead section.

But, if there are different levels of suffering in hell, I think Powell will be standing knee deep in shit for all eternity, and chimpy, rummy and condi will be doing headstands in the same shit Powell will be standing in.

[yorkiemommie1]

5. D.

If he were true to his conscience he would come out publicly and admit his mistakes. NOW. Not many years from now. I wonder if someone has twisted his arm and made thinly veiled threats against his wellbeing.

[catmandu57]

6. No he's not

If he was he would never had hooked up with this bunch and certainly would never had gone to the UN with the dog and pony show like he did.

[babylonsister]

7. If he was anything but D), he would have come clean

and exposed the lies when he found out about them even if that meant resigning.

[evil eggplant]

25. yes. D for sure.

And that is the bottom line. He put his career and the chimp ahead of the country he was sworn to defend.

D. Absolutely D. A plain unadorned shithead.

Thanks.

[JDPriestly]

8. Also a coward.

Bush played Powell for a fool and ruined Powell's reputation and historical legacy. He will be remembered in history as the many who told obvious, huge lies to the U.N. to justify an illegal and wrongful war. Powell should come clean about what happened. He hasn't. Shame on him.

[Stirk]

9. An amoral jackass who should never have been in government.

That whole "good soldier following orders" line is bullshit. The man isn't retarded. He knew that when he took on the role of Secretary of State, he was not a soldier, but a public servant.

That ass helped sell the invasion because he's another amoral neocon, just like the rest of them. Period.

[leftofthedial]

10. no. he's an asshole and always has been

he was one of the first recipients of the neocon media propaganda makeover.

he's always been an opportunistic narcissist.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

11. Where was his conscience during My Lai? During Iran-Contra?

He is having a crisis of post-military career choices, not conscience. Shithead.

[evil eggplant]

19. My Lai??

My Lai? Judging by Abu Gharib, we must be doing that kind of evil shit every day.

But I get your point, and I think I agree with you.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

30. War is filled with atrocities. It is the nature of war.

Powell helped cover up the My Lai atrocity, coordinated the sale of missiles to Iran, and sold the world on lies to start Bush's war. Those are not the acts of a man of conscience.

[marylanddem]

12. Self-serving ass-kisser

in my humble opinion

[acmejack]

41. Your answer is much better than D!

I'll go with E. Self Serving Ass Kisser myself. And look at the fine job with his son, Michael the Corporate Lackey...

[ernstbass]

13. D

[KG]

geez, how deep does the powell 'myth' need to be buried?

he's been a errand boy for the RW since he participated in the attempt to cover up the My Lai massacre.

get over him.

[peace frog]

15. D. Period.

[tridim]

16. His last chance for me was his TDS appearance

and he came off as a cocky, Bushbot asshole. He has NO conscience and is at least as dumb as his bosses.

[hiley]

17. D

:spank:

[speedoo]

18. D. Fuck him.

Stupid scumbag did more to sway opinion to support this war and now we don't even kn ow hao many people died as a result.

Fuck him.

[CityZen-X]

20. * Powell Simply Failed To Realize...

the Emancipation Proclamation!

[Zenlitened]

21. I think the "sell by" date has expired for Powell.

It's long past the time he should have -- and could have -- done what's right.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

22. He did have some forewarning from his friend Harry Belafonte

who told him he was being used like a house(n-word). I think Powell was offended by the comment because he honestly didn't believe a person occupying the highest seat in the land would deceive his country. At that point I still think Powell had it right. But once his eyes and ears told him otherwise, he then had an obligation to his country over his president. And he made the wrong choice. I still don't think he is a bad man, but he made a bad choice and unfortunately he and we will have to live with it forever.

[evil eggplant]

26. Day O ??

Harry Bellefonte said that?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

36. Yes, two or three years ago, but it was big in the news

Powell responded by saying that even though he and Belafonte were friends and he respected his opinions, he thought Belafonte was wrong about this and it was an inappropriate thing to say (to my recollection).

[AndyTiedye]

23. Perhaps the Hague Will Go Easy On Him If He Testifies Against The Others

[proud patriot]

27. good soldiers don't follow illegal orders n/t

[BlueJac]

28. D

If he had a conscience he would not of talked to the UN............:kick:

[bonito]

32. A & C With a conscience

[meg]

33. A very Big D!

And sad because he could have been a great good guy, but choose instead to be a BIG D. (not Dallas)

[Jara sang]

34. No, he's a prick.

[oasis]

35. Capital D.

[NYC]

37. D.

He has a history of D.

[Hubert Flottz]

38. D

A crook and War Criminal, he is still making big money off his Bushco connections, while the country goes broke. He sold out the country for cash and to get his kid a job! A former general, who would knowingly help Bush, send troops to Iraq, to be murdered, over a pack of what Powell knew were lies when he told them at the UN and on American TV, is a criminal!

We DUers suspected all along, that Powell was a man with a terribly flawed character, because of his complicity in the cover-up of The My Lai Massacre in Vietnam, his complicity in Bush's lies and crimes against humanity, proved us right. I think he was in on or at least knew about the outing of the CIA agent and I think he is helping the administration cover up that crime also.

[DinahMoeHum]

39. D. I'm sorry, but when I see him on the tube now, I want to scream

the "N-word" at him. He's not a man anymore and doesn't deserve to be called a man. He's eunuch.

A real man would have resigned and walked out rather than do what he did.

He sold out. Yeah, yeah, I've read where he sold out long before this, but when he gave his presentation at the UN, it was in plain sight.

:argh:

[mattclearing]

40. Aaron MacGruder pointed out that a man that was personally responsible for

100,000 deaths in the first Persian Gulf War is the one considered "moderate."

[MetaTrope]

42. What would you conclude from his Iran-Contra testimony?

From the Walsh Report:

"The notes demonstrated that Weinberger's early testimony -- that he had only vague and generalized information about Iran arms sales in 1985 -- was false, and that he in fact had detailed information on the proposed arms sales and the actual deliveries. The notes also revealed that Gen. Colin Powell, Weinberger's senior military aide, and Richard L. Armitage, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, also had detailed knowledge of the 1985 shipments from Israeli stocks. Armitage and Powell had testified that they did not learn of the November 1985 HAWK missile shipment until 1986."

[maveric]

43. Was a good guy who lied down with the dogs.

And lied for them.

[EST]

44. Powell has gotten by all his professional life

through being fiercely loyal to the chain of command. If he thought it through at all, and he is certainly smart enough to have that internal conversation, he probably assumed the fascist regime would be more firmly embedded by now and their grip on information access better developed. Love must mean never having to say you're sorry...

Belafonte had it right-the abject allegiance described in many of the old novels with slave like willingness to put "massa" above one's own family and humanity is just slightly twisted to his devotion to military correctness.

Interestingly, that same flavor of pimple seems to adorn what passes for thinking in the vast majority of rabid right wing apologists. The leadership possesses the only authenticity while the enablers have that slavish quirk that they embrace with a delight that seems almost sexual in its intensity and demand for justification.

[raccoon]

45. D. A self-serving shithead. nt

[0007]

46. Harry Bellefonte called it several years ago.

The best Powell could do now would be to come out with a press conference and say he was an asshole for going along with junior and his crime cabal and all lies.

And then give it the 0' Douglas Macarthur, "Old Soldiers Never Die They Just Fade Away"

But Powell will never admit that Bellefonte was right and he certainly doesn't have the guts of General Macarthur. Colin is just another asshole that junior screwed.

[oasis]

47. House slave.

[myrna minx]

48. d) He's just cya. A real man wouldn't allow himself

to be *used* like that. We'll see if he sheds a tear once the money rolls in for him. :eyes: