Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort (Wilkerson)

[sabra]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-wilkerson-interview,1,1626265.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort

WASHINGTON -- A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.

In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and likeminded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."

On the question of detainees picked up in Afghanistan and other fronts in the war on terror, Wilkerson said Bush heard two sides of an impassioned argument within his administration. Abuse of prisoners, and even the deaths of some who had been interrogated in Afghanistan and elsewhere, have bruised the U.S. image abroad and undermined support for the Iraq war.

[ninkasi]

1. Hmm...which to choose...

Ok, I pick "nefarious bastard". What's the prize? Oh, I know...seeing Cheney and the rest of them hauled away in handcuffs, so that they can face trial for crimes against humanity.

[leftchick]

Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort (bush 'all-powerful'!)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051128/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/wilkerson_interview

WASHINGTON - A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.


In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and likeminded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."

On the question of detainees picked up in Afghanistan and other fronts in the war on terror, Wilkerson said Bush heard two sides of an impassioned argument within his administration. Abuse of prisoners, and even the deaths of some who had been interrogated in Afghanistan and elsewhere, have bruised the U.S. image abroad and undermined support for the Iraq war.

Cheney's office, Rumsfeld aides and others argued "that the president of the United States is all-powerful, that as commander in chief the president of the United States can do anything he damn well pleases," Wilkerson said.

[LSparkle]

2. That last line says it all -- that bastard has GOT to go ... he's not KING

for God's sake!

[Eugene]

3. I'd pick unprincipled, amoral, nefarious bastard.

Cheney thinks the President and the administration are above the law.
Nobody in America is safe.

edit: spelling and clarification

[SpiralHawk]

4. A. Moron B. Idiot C. Nefarious Bastard

I choose ABC -- All of the above.

[Erika]

5. I hope Powell eventually comes clean about the W

The sooner the better. He and his aides leak little by little.

We need the whole ugly truth about this administration and their minions.

[thebigidea]

6. he'll do nothing but go on speaking tours and write pointless memoirs

his retirement nest egg is invested in W, he'll soldier on to the end. Stupid old fuck.

[hang a left]

7. Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort

Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort

By ANNE GEARAN
AP Diplomatic Writer



WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.

In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."

On the question of detainees picked up in Afghanistan and other fronts in the war on terror, Wilkerson said Bush heard two sides of an impassioned argument within his administration. Abuse of prisoners, and even the deaths of some who had been interrogated in Afghanistan and elsewhere, have bruised the U.S. image abroad and undermined support for the Iraq war.

snip>

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WILKERSON_INTERVIEW?SITE=NYNYD&SECTION=POLITICS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Theduckno2]

8. Thanks for posting this.

If Wilkerson would write a book, I'm sure it would be very good! I do think that the abuse of prisoners did more than "bruise" the U.S. image overseas though.

As far as Cheney goes, I'm inclined to vote for "nefarious bastard".:rofl:

[Moderator]

9. kick

[T_i_B]

10. Cheney 'created climate for US war crimes'

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article330218.ece

A leading aide to the former secretary of state Colin Powell has accused Vice-President Dick Cheney of creating the climate in which prisoner abuse could flourish, and implied that he might have committed war crimes.

Lawrence Wilkerson, General Powell's chief of staff until January this year, alleged that US policy on Iraq before and after the March 2003 invasion had been hijacked by an alliance between Mr Cheney and the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld ­ fostered by President George Bush's "detached" attitude to details of post-war planning.

He also suggested that the faulty intelligence used to justify the war had been at the least "cherry-picked" by the White House and the Pentagon.

The controversy over prisoner abuse and torture has recently flared up anew in Washington. But for Colonel Wilkerson, the problem has arisen as the result of an "alternative decision-making process," led by Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld.

[booksenkatz]

11. B-b-but without war crimes, Cheney is unable to attain erection

Without that torture and those war crimes, the mighty Vice-Presidential stiffy falls. So we must stay the course!

[acmavm]

12. Is this guy Powell's revenge? Not that I disagree with him, quite the

contrary. But you don't hear Powell saying anything against the guy or contradicting a word he says.

Gotta wonder, don't ya?

[T_i_B]

13. Well I presume you lot actually hear from Powell these days.

Outside the US you tend to hear more from Condoleeza Rice, which is only natural as she is now secretary of state.