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Local News & Opinion
Ref. : Local Newsbriefs Travel
Films, Arts & Education
Letters
Ref. : Letters to the editor Open Letters:
06.24 Mr. Holder, You Must Hold Torturers Accountable Health & Environment
06.29 Thinking about Climate 06.26 False Health-Scare Ad on CNN 06.25 Louella Learns the Limits of Medicare 06.23 The Simple Answer to America’s Health Care Crisis: Medicare for All 06.23 Tell ABC: Include Single-Payer in Healthcare Debate 06.23 Serving the Medical-Industrial Complex 06.22 Thinking about Recoveries 06.20 Obama's Health Care Waterloo 06.15 Obama, Like Clinton Before Him, is Blowing the Chance for Real Health Care Reform 06.11 Two Key Health-Care Numbers 06.10 Big Breakthroughs for Single Payer Health Care 06.10 Readying Americans for Dangerous, Mandatory Vaccinations Media Watching
06.29 WP's Connolly Back, on Health Reform 06.17 Hypocrisy and Hope: Western Coverage, Iranian Courage 06.15 Excusing Outrages of the Right 06.11 Tying Obama to Bush's Budget Mess US Politics, Policy & Culture
06.30 Obama's Torture Hypocrisy 06.30 Court Circular: Annals of Imperial Continuity 06.29 Obama, They Want You to Fail 06.26 Who to Trust on a Truth Commission? 06.26 Tarnished Shields: The Morally Bankrupt 'Family Values' Republican Leadership 06.25 America's "Bases of Empire" 06.24 Twelve Angry White People: Jury Nullification in a Pennsylvania Coal Town 06.24 Touring Empire's Ruins 06.23 Employers are Undermining the Economic Stimulus Program 06.19 Criminalizing Dissent: Obama Pot Calls Iranian Kettle Black 06.17 Afghanistan's Operation Phoenix 06.16 Are You Ready for War with a Demonized Iran? 06.13 Where's the Anger as the Wheels Come Off Obama's and the Democrats' Recovery Program? 06.10 Waiving the Rules for Old Glory 06.10 Obama's Era of Openness Is Closed High Crimes?
07.03 Reviewing Marjorie Cohn and Kathleen Gilberd's "Rules of Disengagement" 07.01 Iraq: A Bitter Strategic Failure 06.25 It's All Good, Again: 'Uptick' in the American-Made Tides of Violence in Iraq 06.22 Obama Opposes Plame-gate Release 06.21 Dexter's Legions: The "Good" Killers of the "Good" War 06.18 Extending the Tradition: Proudly Taking American Torture Into the Future 06.15 New UN Report Denounces America's Human Rights Record 06.14 Fear Rules Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance
07.01 Michael Hudson's "Super Imperialism:" The Economic Strategy of Imperial America 06.23 Obama's Financial Reform Proposal - A Stealth Scheme for Global Monetary Control 06.10 Cyberscares About Cyberwars Equal Cybermoney International
07.01 Pirates of the Mediterranean 06.29 Color Revolutions, Old and New 06.25 Iran Divided & the 'October Suprise' 06.23 Astringent Corrective: AbuKhalil on Iran's Turmoil 06.20 Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated “Color Revolution?” 06.20 Through a Glass Darkly: Sifting Myth and Fact on Iran 06.19 Iran's Election and US - Iranian Elections 06.16 The Ir-Af-Pak War: Obama Looses the Manhunters 06.12 Israeli War Crimes Against Children During Operation Cast Lead We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
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COMMENTARY:Heroes and RoguesLest we forget, Powell was, arguably, the only person who could have derailed the Bush-Cheney march to war in Iraq.
Perhaps Barack Obama should have rejected General Powell's endorsement. Lest we forget, Powell was, arguably, the only person who could have derailed the Bush-Cheney march to war in Iraq. In insurance parlance, he was "the last clear chance." Powell must have known the evidence for WMD was weak, and he also knew that Bush was itching for the chance to prove his mettle and avenge his father or "finish the job," as he was often wont to say. It is also reported that the night before his important speech before the U.N., Powell argued vociferously against the speech he was ordered to give. Nevertheless, Powell played the dutiful servant or loyal soldier, depending on your point of view.People close to him throughout his career claim that he was inclined to curry favor with his white superiors due to an inferiority complex, and he never rocked the boat. So, he went before the U.N. and paraded a pile of raw sewage, cherry picking the skimpy evidence provided by the CIA , while ignoring their caveats, and embracing the nonsence produced by the notorious flake, "Curveball." This "tour de force" was, undoubtedly, a low point of his career, but, perhaps, not the lowest. Powell betrayed his own heart (I think he has one) and the faith of the American people in their expectation of truth and integrity from their highest sworn leaders. Well.... perhaps not—at least not anymore. Had he resigned in protest then, instead of at the end of Bush's first term, millions of lives and trillions of dollars could have been saved. Instead, the General was able to keep his stars, his maximized pension, and his currency as a dinner speaker. In doing so, of course, he betrayed his own heart (I think he has one) and the faith of the American people in their expectation of truth and integrity from their highest sworn leaders. Well.... perhaps not—at least not anymore. Unfortunately, there was precedent to take Powell's testimony with a large dollop of salt. The good General also participated in the Iran-Contra crime. In fact he arranged for the shipment of Army materials to another country to be used in the arms-for-hostage deal. His testimony before a Congressional committee investigating this crime was anything but convincing. However, he avoided the fate of Weinberger and Ollie North. Even that episode was not out of character. He was the Major charged with investigating alleged attrocities in Vietnam—most notably, the My-Lai massacre. In a perfunctory whitewash job, he failed to find anything and so reported, along with the fatuous lie that the American soldiers and the Vietnamese were getting along famously. Despite this sordid history, which would have ruined the carreer of many lesser luminaries, he seemed to have guardian angels in high places. The press decided that we needed this kind of Horatio Alger story. And so the narrative continues. According to the mainstream media, Colin Powell is the most revered and respected voice in America today; hence, the immense impact his endorsement is likely to have on the Presidential contest. We as a people have always wanted to believe in invented heroes while missing or ignoring the real ones. We are always blinded by the charisma as we sip the Kool Aid. J. Russell Tyldesley, a retired insurance executive, writes from Santa Fe, NM.
Copyright © 2008 The Baltimore News Network. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. Baltimore News Network, Inc., sponsor of this web site, is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed in stories posted on this web site are the authors' own. This story was published on October 21, 2008. |
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