What would have happened if Colin Powell had resigned instead of lied to the UN and the world?

[EEO]

Would that have slowed the march to war in Iraq or perhaps irreparably even irreparably damaged it? I know the George W. Bush administration would have hammered him, but would that have been effective or backfired?

[yeoman6987]

1. Backfired

He would have been criticized by everyone in politics and majority of the American population who was in the "patriotic" sense of America at the time. It would have been a disaster for Colin Powell. However, today he would have been looked at favorably, but most of us can't see the future unfortunately. He did what he did and came around eventually. I am sure he has regrets but who doesn't.

[bklyncowgirl]

13. I agree all the "smart" people would have dragged his name through the mud.

This is what they did to anyone else with any clout and the media went right along with them. The Neocons were hell bent on war in Iraq and they weren't about to let the likes of Colin Powell stop them.

[Cosmocat]

14. That would be my take

he would have been TERRIBLY vilified at the time, and it would have been a blip that would have done little to actually stop the push to go into Iraq. Hell, these jackasses outed a fricken CIA agent who was a working on actual WMD and it didn't matter.

I overall like him, but he had that choice to make then and chose to not do the right thing even knowing the consequences of going it at the time. It was the safe play, what career military guy who rose through the ranks would do. He has done what he can since to try to make up for it, but even though it would not have changed things, he can't completely make up for it.

[Fred Sanders]

2. Who can forget his ever so sincere and utterly false presentation to the UN, a failed attempt to

win over the agency, the true intent being to convince the American media to play along....and they did.

Yellow cake and yellow Powell will forever be linked in my mind. I am sure he came close to resigning, knowing the lies he was being ordered to tell....he did it anyway.

Sorry, no forgiveness, unless you are willing to testify in open court about the war crimes of your bosses.

[femmocrat]

3. He should have resigned.

I don't know if it would have made a difference to the neo-cons who were rabid for war, but he might have maintained a little integrity and the respect of the country.

Even I didn't believe his "testimony" at the UN and I was just a nobody from nowhere without any inside information. It was all a charade.

[JoePhilly]

4. Would not have mattered.

He'd have been dropped quietly and they'd have sent some one else, probably high ranking military ... not as high profile as Powell, but some one ambitious and ready to move up.

[GeorgeGist]

5. Colin Powell wouldn't be a war criminal ...

if he went to UN and told the truth instead of endorsing doing stupid stuff.

[TexasProgresive]

6. And as a bonus

when he looks at his face in the mirror while shaving he will have the satisfaction of seeing a man of honor.

[jambo101]

7. Lotsa people were duped

Many politicians voted to get into the Iraq war based on Powels testimony along with the rest of those supposedly in the know concerning these matters.
Probably the only ones who really knew it was all a sham were those half dozen Bush flunkies at the top including Powel.

[roody]

11. I was in the streets with 300,000

people who knew it was a sham.

[iandhr]

8. Backfired

He would have gotten the Joe Wilson treatment

[karynnj]

9. Most likely given him a claim ti integrity, but the war would have likely happened anyway

His UN address was in February 2003 - a month before the war started and about 4 months AFTER the IWR vote.

By February 2003, the UN inspectors had been back in Iraq (they were out from 1998 to fall 2002) for about 3 months. It was already becoming clear that there were NO WMD. (The quotes that Republicans use against Democrats from 2002 all speak in CONDITIONAL terms - not saying that Saddam Hussein had WMD, but that he COULD have them and given who he was, that was a problem.)

I do think he might have raised the level of opposition to attacking - especially if he left with a strong, detailed account of the rush to war. As an insider, he could have been the strongest voice against the war. He could have allied with people like Kerry, who a few weeks earlier called on Bush not to rush to war. Kerry spoke of not exhausting the diplomacy. Powell could have spoken of the weakness of the case and the fact that he knew there was no genuine case to be made to go to war. He also could have taken responsibility for having used his credibility in 2002 to push many to vote to give Bush authority. I don't know if it would have made a difference. At that point, Bush did not get any UN go ahead and he did not need the support of Congress or even the American people.

[roody]

10. He might have gone to heaven.

If it exists, that is.

[bemildred]

12. Under the bus, but with his integrity intact.

He might have even got to run for President.

[HeiressofBickworth]

15. Powell's cover-up of the My Lai massacre soured him for me.

Most of you are probably too young to remember the incident of March 16, 1968, but Colin Powell, who was a Major in Vietnam, deliberately lied about relations between US and Vietnamese and failed to investigate the massacre, issuing a statement that said essentially, nothing to see here, move along.

I was not surprised when he declared himself to be Republican -- the party seemed to offer the same kind of lack of moral center that he has. A perfect fit. I'm glad he never sought higher office. He could have -- he was popular by that time and could have been the first African American president. Instead he chose a role much like his cover-up of My Lai -- lied, denied and misled. It never would have been in his character to resign instead of lie.

[Arkana]

16. They'd have gotten another stoolie to lie for them and everything

would have proceeded exactly as it did.