WHERE HAVE YOU GONE COLIN POWELL? Where is the man who was once considered the most trusted man in America and who a major news magazine declared a "superstar"?
For a generation you were omnipresent as National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of State and as a best selling author. You stood tall as a paragon of much of what was best in America - integrity, duty, hard work and opportunity; towering over the political landscape just as the World Trade Center once soared over lower Manhattan. Unfortunately, both colossal icons crumbled from the impact of a single tragic hour in Manhattan, leaving a void that has yet to be filled.
A decade ago, you voiced outrage when Madeline Albright asked "What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it"; responding contemptuously that "American GIs are not toy soldiers to be moved around on some global game board." Where is your outrage today after American GIs have been sent into a quagmire without sufficient personnel or supplies only to return to deplorable conditions and neglect such as was seen at Walter Reed Army Hospital?
Where is your indignation today as this administration's adventurism has, in your view, pushed the active Army towards the breaking point?
Where is your contempt today after five years of this administration refusing to listen to voices of reason from your pre-war warnings and objections to the use of torture to the current findings of the Iraq Study Group?
Where is your voice today as this administration repeatedly ignores the Constitution you swore to protect and defend "against all enemies, foreign and domestic"?
As the Valerie Plame case demonstrates, this administration will smear anyone who gets in its way regardless of whether they are speaking the truth. You are one of the few Americans who have the stature and moral authority to challenge this administration in a non-partisan way without having to fear White House reprisals. With over 3,200 fatalities and over 10,000 seriously wounded and billions of dollars spent that could have been invested in our future, the nation turns it weary eyes to you.
You have been exceedingly loyal to both this administration and the Bush family. While loyalty has its place, two of your principal lessons of leadership are that leadership is about "solving problems" and "[b]eing responsible sometimes means pissing people off." That is the case today. More importantly, loyalty to your country must always come before loyalty to any leader or political party. Like Robert E. Lee and General Rommel ages ago, you are called upon to use your status and your voice to rescue the nation from a prolonged war because there is no person in America today better suited to lead this battle than you.
Yes, there are risks in your leading this effort. As former IBM President Thomas Watson, Jr. once noted, those who stand up to be counted may get knocked down; but "[a] man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good." That is precisely why this may be your last best chance at redemption.
You can bring an end to the same catastrophe that your one-hour presentation at the United Nations helped launch. Taking such a role may be counter to many rules you have adhered to throughout your career, but as General MacArthur noted "[y]ou are remembered for the rules you break."
If you lead this charge, the American people, especially the children of the soldiers whose lives will be spared by a prompt end to the war, will always remember you for your courage to break the rules in this difficult time and not for the single hour that has stained your forty years of public service. You will be remembered as a hero who not only was able to make the incredible journey from Harlem to Foggy Bottom and from general to statesman; but who had the courage to stand up and call for an end to this war when far too many voices were silent. As you indicated in the close of your United Nations presentation, "we must not shrink from whatever is ahead of us. We must not fail in our duty and our responsibility to the citizens".
Where have you gone Colin Powell? Your nation needs you now more than ever.
Bennet Kelley (bennetkelley.com) is an award-winning columnist, political analyst, publisher of BushLies.net and founder of the Internet Law Center. He also was the co-founder and former national co-chair of the Saxophone Club (the Democratic National Committee's young professional fundraising and outreach arm during the Clinton era.)
Powell helped get us into this mess because he wouldn't stand up to injustice. Take a look at his history and the facade of a honorable man disappears rapidly. But you're right, where has he gone? He could redeem himself, perhaps - too bad he's part of the problem.
by
Ben (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 46 comments)
on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 4:23:10 PM
"Watch you life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." I Tim 4:16
The rightness of the "Powell Doctrine" speaks for itself. What the hell happened to the courage and the conviction of the man whose name was -- at one time -- associated with it?
From Wikipedia:
The Powell Doctrine, also known as the Powell Doctrine of Overwhelming Force, was elaborated by General Colin Powell in the run up to the 1990-1991 Gulf War. It is based in large part on the Weinberger Doctrine, devised by Caspar Weinberger, former Secretary of Defense and Powell's former boss.The questions posed by the Powell Doctrine, which should be answered affirmatively before military action, are:
3.Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
4.Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
5.Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
6.Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
7.Is the action supported by the American people?
8.Do we have genuine broad international support?
The fifth point of the Doctrine is normally interpreted to mean that the U.S. should not get involved in peacekeeping or nation-building exercises. Powell expanded upon the Doctrine, asserting that when a nation is engaging in war, every resource and tool should be used to achieve overwhelming force against the enemy, minimizing US casualties and ending the conflict quickly by forcing the weaker force to capitulate. This is well in line with Western military strategy dating at least from Carl von Clausewitz'sOn War. However, in the context of the Just War theory, the doctrine of overwhelming force may violate the principle of proportionality.
Your reference to General Lee is interesting. I have been thinking that Colin Powell is the General Lee of our time. He did not go to West Point, but he did his duty, lost his honor and the country suffered.
by
Buddy (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 8:41:51 PM
Either you are not familiar with the career of General Powell or that of General Lee.
Lee was an honorable man who did his duty as he saw it to be, he was beloved of his troops and grieved every death, and they loved him in return. He was, prior to the Civil War, first in his class at West Point you might understand.
Powell on the other hand was a self serving, self involved climber who always did the politically expedient thing, who did only what benefitted him personally and deserves the stain on his reputation that will be his legacy for all time.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 9:08:40 AM
5 comments
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