PRESIDENT BUSH FIRED COLIN POWELL - HE DID NOT RESIGN! (WaPo)

[kpete]

“On Wednesday, November 10, 2004, eight days after the president he served was elected to a second term, Secretary of State Colin Powell received a telephone call from the White House at his State Department office. The caller was not President Bush but Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and he got right to the point. ‘The president would like to make a change,’ Card said, using a time-honored formulation that avoided the words ‘resign’ or ‘fire.’ … Bush wanted Powell’s resignation letter dated two days hence, on Friday, November 12, Card said, although the White House expected him to stay at the State Department until his successor was confirmed by the Senate.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

[Redstone]

1. Who besides me is not surprised?

Redstone

[kansasblue]

6. I'm surprised! I thought there was the Bush loyalty thing...

That's why Rumsfailed is still on here.

So that's very very interesting!

[Redstone]

7. But Rumdum is...how do I put this delicately...white.

Redstone

[TahitiNut]

14. He looks gray to me. Funny ... so does Condi.

[Redstone]

24. Agreed. That they both are.

Redstone

[malaise]

13. Note he didn't have the guts to fire him

Card did the dirty work. Powell is also a war criminal. He should expect no sympathy.

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bleever]

2. So the blivet FINALLY fired someone...for being right.

Makes sense.

[krkaufman]

61. The *only* people they've fired have been "right"

(with a few exceptions, of course, where actual criminal charges have been filed)

Someone should really start a list. Here's a few more off the top of my head...

Lawrence Lindsey -- for stating Iraq rebuilding would cost over $200 Billion
Eric Shinseki -- for stating Iraq occupation would require 450,000+ troops
Paul O'Neill -- for speaking sanity to Bush "tax cuts for the rich" policy
Richard Clarke -- (demoted) for being dead-on regarding the al Qaeda threat
Andrew Card -- for trying to force-out the incompetent, delusional Rumsfeld



(I'm not saying any or all of the above are heroes; merely that they were forced-out by the Bush Admin for pushing alternate viewpoints -- perspectives that were reality-based.)

[Straight Shooter]

3. Little Boots demands loyalty from everybody, but seldom returns it.

Colin Powell, in a strange case of poetic justice, got what he deserved. It was his reputation for truth and veracity that convinced so many people of WMD in Iraq.

Shame on him. Greater shame on bush.

[patricia92243]

21. Before the war, I saw a poll that asked "Who do you trust to tell the truth

about the Iraq war (I probably don't have the wording exactly correct)

Then you were supposed to choose Bush or Powell. The reason I remember it was that the winning answer was Powell like 68%. I was shocked that so many people felt that way. The next thing you knew Powell was at the UN.

Bush used him, then abused him - as the old saying goes.

Or Bush was jealous that people thought better of Powell thn they did him.

[wakeme2008]

4. IMHO Rummy and Dickie fired Colin...

but still Colin lied for them at the UN and I have no use for the man.

[Redstone]

9. And your Humble Opinion would be 100% correct in this case.

Redstone

[TahitiNut]

15. Your 'imho' matches my 'imho' 100%.

Junior does what he's told ... only to suck up more narcissistic supply.

[Jacobin]

41. They used him like a five dollar whore and then threw him overboard

And Powell was a fool for letting them do it

[newspeak]

52. that's what I think

they used him--I remember some threads after 2001, where some only trusted Powell. Some who thought after the 2000 election, that Powell was the only decent appointment. After 2004-* usurping more power after 9/11-they no longer needed him. Yep, they used him like a whore-and he became a whore, betraying all of us at the UN.

[KittyWampus]

5. This will not sit well with moderates. More bad news for GOP

[beachmom]

8. Yeah -- the "only brain among them" got fired. Wow. n/t

[walldude]

10. So he got fired and it took him 2 years to say anything

against the Administrations policies? Damn and I thought my opinion of him couldn't get any lower....

[exlrrp]

37. Agreed!!

He's just a rat who jumped the sinking ship explaining why he jumped it

[cui bono]

11. Jebus! When the hell is Powell gonna tell all? n/t

[riderinthestorm]

12. Powell isn't a believer. Not like Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bu$h

Those guys have a mercenary streak, a real messianic vision of taking over the ME that Powell never would co-opt, thus relegating him to the outside. Those guys want the oil kingdoms BAD. They are salivating for it in a most unseemly way that even their slave Colin Powell couldn't get over.

Also there is the whole "I'm a powerful black man in a position of power" thang that speaks to Black History Month (caps purposeful).

Frankly, truthfully, I'm not even sure Kindasleazy buys into all that jazz (BFEE) either but I believe her "mission" is different: to be a black woman affecting power. To be a powerful black woman in the world. To the degree that Bu$h and Co's agenda meshed with hers, she's along for the ride. She wants to be seen as a Coretta Scott King or whatevah, some kind of trailblazer for young AAs.

[NNN0LHI]

16. Yes he is. Remember his UN appearance?

He knew that was all nothing but a pack of lies but he still got up in front of the entire world and lied for his masters.

Don

[riderinthestorm]

22. He's a slave, not a master

I believe he went up there and lied, knowing he was lying, believing (praying? hoping?) they would cover his lying sack o'shit ass so he would be invited into the 'club'.

But I honestly don't think he is in on the underhanded criminalities of BFEE, Cheney and Rumsfeld. He is a legitimate outsider. I can't help but think of him in the same vein as Bill Clinton and his antics lately - all of BC's latest social gigs seem to point to a guy willing to do just about anything to get in on the "big" action going on by the bad guys across the globe.

I think Colon and Kindasleazy at least justify themselves that they made it into the "big league" of the world stage as AAs, that they will always go down in history at the first "black SOS of the US" (barf) for example.

It's repulsive. It's more than low, but there it is.

[lfairban]

35. Not according to the article.

It says pretty much that Powell was honestly relating the information he had been given at the time, and publicly acknowledged the errors when he became aware of them:


p. 4:

In some instances, the "evidence" was, in fact, found in an official intelligence report, but only as unconfirmed information that did not appear in the report's conclusions. "They had left out all the caveats, all the qualifiers," Wilkerson recalled. In a few instances, he thought, they had even changed the meaning of the intelligence. A Senate investigation of the speechwriting process conducted after the invasion would later conclude that the Powell team had had to eliminate "information that the White House had added . . . gathered from finished and raw intelligence," some of which had come from only a single source with no corroboration at all.

p.5 :

Powell retreated with Tenet to the director's private office to talk through "what we really know" about the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Powell was shown the transcript of an interrogation of a captured Osama bin Laden aide who swore that al-Qaeda operatives had received biological and chemical weapons training from Iraq, and the charge became a lengthy portion of the speech. (A year after the invasion, the agency acknowledged that the information had come from a single source who had been branded a liar by U.S. intelligence officials long before Powell's presentation.)

. . .

"My colleagues," Powell said, "every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."

. . .

Wilkerson, who had left the United Nations immediately after the speech and returned to his hotel room to fall into a deep sleep, awoke depressed. Later, when it became clear that much of the speech on which he had worked so hard was based on lies, he would come to think of that week as "the lowest moment of my life."

. . .

But there was no point discussing hypotheticals, said, because "the fact of the matter" was that the CIA, as well as intelligence agencies in Britain and elsewhere, had "suggested the stockpiles were there."

[malaise]

44. Harry Belafonte was 100% correct

http://www.blackcommentator.com/14_belafonte.html

[Straight Shooter]

23. Remember before the UN appearance?

Throwing down the papers and yelling, "I'm not reading this. This is bullshit!!"

Thanks for nothing, Colin. You have disgraced your uniform, just like Ollie North disgraced his.

[bagrman]

45. Remember he's a soldier doing as he was ordered. It's not

a good excuse but the reason.

Latr
Bargman

[Straight Shooter]

54. A soldier who is also a very good lap dog, even against U.S. citizens.

[krkaufman]

62. Yes, apparently there were some even more egregious lies ...

... that Powell wasn't willing to echo. That's pretty scary, considering the bulls**t that Powell ending up laying out at the UN.

[Coes]

55. Powell had my respect...

... he threw it all away.

Anybody trying to get away with thAt much amount of lies, needs to have their head checked.

...

I might have become to harsh on him.

[Mr_Spock]

17. God forbid he had one of the 12 Republicans with brains in his admin.

Bushco is the failure that all of his previous business ventures were - because Bush the insipid petulant coward feels threatened by anybody who has a brain AND thinks for his or herself. Condi appears to have a brain but has signed over her will to the mindless ass-fucks at Bushco. Pathetic. So utterly pathetic.

[StellaBlue]

18. Ooh! Ooh! Ommmmmm! You called him the "president"!!!

[Kali]

26. ...

[mod mom]

19. Notice they kept him on until the election theft was signed sealed and

delivered.

[KharmaTrain]

20. Now We Know Whose Boss Here

I used to think it was Chenney. It's von Rumsfeldt all the way.

Colin had to get thrown under the bus as is everyone who can serve as a convenient toady or scapegoat to this regime. Just shows how much of an empty suit booooshie really is.

[cally]

25. Powell was not strong enough to tell the truth

He was used as a patsy in the Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush war against the truth. I have no sympathy nor admiration for him.

[Thickasabrick]

27. That was an incredible article and I will be buying his book. He

was the loyal soldier till the end and I admire him for finally telling us how it all went down. Some people may disagree, but I admire this man and the way I read it - he never lied to anyone - he was the one who was lied to.

[windbreeze]

29. He Lied...period!!

and he KNEW he was lying...HE didn't believe the evidence he had been given to present to the UN...yet...he went ahead and presented it anyway, instead of refusing...sorry...the man lost his integrity long ago, over My Lai, Vietnam...
wb...

[cynatnite]

28. A pinhead like Card telling that to a Sec. of State...

That should tell Powell where he stood with these assholes.

[lonestarnot]

30. Wit dat bushitler or against him. Heh heh heh.

[Malikshah]

31. Poor Colin... Got the $3.00 Whore treatment. Used, abused, and

kicked to the curb.

Well...if you sleep with scum, you wake up with...well...scum.

No tears shed for this miscreant.

[fooj]

32. Little Lord Pissypants had Andy do his job, eh?

Fucking coward.

As for Powell...it's all about karma.

[Hippo_Tron]

33. Colin Powell ruined his career by trusting these assholes

[symbolman]

34. I don't think anyone remembers

Mi Lay, where a whole village was slaughtered and a soldier came forward and told the truth in Nam.

Well, there was a superior there who actually had COVERED it up, before the whistleblower let TIME mag and everyone else know, and that COVERUP was instigated by none other than Colin Powell.

He's been a shill and a LYING sack of shit for a LONG time.

I served my country and usually I will not speak ill of those who do, but in his case I will make an exception, because his lies have KILLED MANY people.

Remember the Highway of Death in the last Iraq war? He was involved in that as well.

[glitch]

47. Thank you. He may've ruined his career with bushes but he ruined his life

with his cover up of My Lai. And the way they treated the true hero who blew the whistle on those atrocities may damn Colin Powell for a lot longer than this life.

[allemand]

49. Powell had nothing to do with the My Lai cover-up.

Six months later, a 21 year old soldier of the 11th Light Infantry named Tom Glen wrote a letter accusing the Americal Division (and other entire units of the US military, not just individuals) of routine brutality against Vietnamese civilians; the letter was detailed, its allegations horrifying, and its contents echoed complaints received from other soldiers. Colin Powell, then a young US Army Major, was charged with investigating the letter, which did not specifically reference My Lai (Glen had no knowledge of the events there).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

[symbolman]

58. I can't believe that anyone quotes

wikipedia here as a source. Seriously, do you know HOW that information gets there?

If I wanted to say that Barney was a REAL Dinosaur and everyone thought it was funny enough, then it would STAY there and it would be TRUTH on Wikipedia..

Do more research and you'll find out what I'm saying is true.. and btw I was drafted in 1971 and joined the USAF, my whole family was USAF, all my cousins, by brother, etc went to Nam and I was Around for the investigations of Calley..

So sorry, Wikipedia is not a source, and Powell is still a liaying POS coverup artist, he never changed his spots...

[allemand]

60. Well, at least in this case Wikipedia is correct.

Glen's letter has nothing to do with My Lai. Look it up for yourself. This whole story (Powell's involvement in the My Lai cover-up) is an urban myth, created by bad journalism and endlessly repeated by those who want to believe in it.

[dave420]

36. meh

The hoser got what he deserved. He lied to the world, and caused tens of thousands of innocent people to die. Fuck him. He had his chance to do something good, but his career got in the way.

[Neecy]

38. This is the story to me...

"We've really got to make the case" against Hussein, Bush told Powell in an Oval Office meeting in late January, "and I want you to make it." Only Powell had the "credibility to do this," Bush said. "Maybe they'll believe you."

"Maybe they'll believe you"? That tells me that Bush knew the whole case for his personal war was a lie and he needed someone credible to sell the lie.

Bush knew, despite his mewling that he was 'misled' by the intelligence.

[im10ashus]

39. Not surprised.

This further illustrates this administration's absence of reality. Powell wasn't the strict neo-con for which they had hoped, so he had to go.

K&R!

[opihimoimoi]

40. Card did it??? Not Bush??? HOW COWARDLY, UNMANLY, and INSULTING

Damn, dat boy don't hunt, don't think...prolly cannot even make a campfire....

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

42. Condom Powell - used and discarded -

has not been invited to grab the Carlyle Group brass ring. Mortifying for him, I'm sure, especially because he's so chummy with Frank Carlucci. Well, Colin, you sold your soul and got kicked in the nads for it. The GOP thanks you for your service. Now get the fuck out.

[aein]

43. I'll never forgive that man....

[kpete]

48. You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUFVD98s6E8&eurl=

[tomp]

50. hair-splitting

powell resinged. he submitted a letter of resignation. that's the way things are done in the "business" world. what he could have done was refuse to resign and force bush to explain it. neither bush nor powell looks any better for this. traitors all.

[bklyncowgirl]

51. Is this supposed to be a surprise.

They got what they needed out of Powell and now it was time to get his ass the hell out of there before he bit them in theirs.

[democrank]

53. Bush doesn`t like it when

members of his cabinet unexpectedly start telling the truth, so of course Powell had to go. An extra added bonus was the elimination of another military person who made Bush`s AWOL-ness look bad.

Powell should have resigned on principle as soon as he knew what Bush and Cheney were up to.

[Pachamama]

56. Go back into the DU archives-We all knew this was a "forced resignation"

and that it was most likely due to the fact that Colin Powell wasn't willing to carry on the lies for this administration and was standing up to them.

And ofcourse, Bush and his staff are such liars, that they don't even admit this is true either.

So, all this is doing is confirming what we suspected...just like everything else in this administration, we have predicted and suspected things and they always prove to be true...

[BornagainDUer]

57. Colin was not far right enough. Lucky he got out when he did

[davidinalameda]

59. disgusting