I enjoyed this article. I’m not sure how objective is the author’s assessment of Powell since he obviously regarded the general as a friend, but I do think this article provides insight into the circumstances surrounding Powell’s apparent support of the Iraq invasion. If nothing else, the author was an insider to those events.
I still remember discussing the Iraq invasion with a neighbor (sadly, now deceased) while we waited for the morning bus to work. She asked why we were invading and we briefly discussed the suggestion that Saddam was developing nukes. Then she asked, “So how are we going to get out?” I had no answer to that one. If two ordinary people at a bus stop could figure out the key flaw in the plan, why couldn’t the giant brains in the Pentagon, CIA and government do the same?
It’s not a ‘key flaw’ at all. You could say that about every war. The fact is, the winner of every war imposes a settlement on the losers. Obama chose not to do that, and withdraw unilaterally, throwing away nine years, hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. He did it for stupid ideological reasons, not reasons of state. But then the West has no idea how to do anything effectively any more.
Friedrich Tellberg
2 years ago
Thank you. A beautiful and informative picture of an interesting historical figure.
Dermot O'Sullivan
2 years ago
I liked the human warmth of the article reminding us that those at the top are human too.
On the general theme of the Iraq invasion I would like to see discussion on the strategic opportunism on the part of the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11.
Galeti Tavas
2 years ago
“was not much mentioned at the time, as far as I can recall, except perhaps in the vernacular press that I do not read.”
haha… I quit reading after this as the article is obviously weighty and would have a lot which interested me, but this throw away line was so fun I could not return to the serious stuff…….
‘British India, the Vernacular Press Act (1878)’ was to stop native News Papers spreading anti British sentiment, or even facts, and imposed a system of ‘Fact Checking’ Censorship exactly along the lines of our current News system, NYT, BBC, CNN, Google, Youtube, and Twitter do. Anything against the hard implicit Liberal Bias is deemed to not be NOT true, or Harmful, or Wrong, and thus canceled, and deleted, including the writers.
History rhyming as it were, although my guess is the writer is not using the words in this way, but more to mean the ‘Gutter Press, or more plebeian news outlets of those days. But a great fit – as the Social Media today is really the new Imperial Government Mouthpiece, and it completely censors any wrongness, true or not, against our Postmodernist Liberal Elites, just as the Act of 1878 did against the British Empire.
You really shouldn’t have quit reading the article.
Jerry Jay Carroll
2 years ago
Like Powell, Luttwak was a member of good standing in the deep state before time passed him by.
rick stubbs
2 years ago
This is a very apt characterization of Powell’s contribution to US military doctrine in the post Vietnam era. He was foremost among the officers who embraced the strategic implications of what the US Army once called ‘Lessons Learned’, e.g., that incremental escalation and nation building are dangerous whirlpool’s that are unsustainable.
Gulf War I demonstrated what military power could successfully achieve given reasonable objectives and the political will to exercise overwhelming force. It also vindicated the concept of a professional volunteer force. The rush to war in Iraq in 2003 was a political decision, not Powell’s, that both parties voted for with a few exceptions. I do not think he could have resisted it given the circumstances of the time.
Last edited 2 years ago by rick stubbs
Martin Bollis
2 years ago
Interesting article
Nicholas Rynn
2 years ago
A third term Regan Presidency? Somewhat surprised nobody considered the 22nd amendment to the Constitution limiting an individual to two terms. It’s all in the detail.
hayden eastwood
2 years ago
Personally I find it amazing that Powell is classified as black. He has got slightly curly hair and a slightly less European nose than normal and that, at least in America, is all it takes. Interesting to see that Americans are still applying the “one drop” rule, even when an understanding that f genetics makes a mockery of racial classification in this way.
Paul Davies
2 years ago
I judge the character of people I encounter by the way that they treat ordinary people who they deal with during the day. I have always had respect for Powell as a man. On a flight in Asia, after his retirement, he and his wife sat behind me. I recognised him and nodded a greeting then sat down. Over the next few hours I could not help but hear his interaction with the cabin crew and his wife. Polite and respectful of others, – he was a brilliant self made man, but he was, as far as I could see, a gentleman.
Rod McLaughlin
2 years ago
Considering his work covering up for and lying about US war crimes in Vietnam and Iraq, it would have been a bit hypocritical for Powell to complain about racism.
James Joyce
2 years ago
What tosh! What a poser, what an international, intellectual grifter! A celebration of inside the Beltway intrigue. We who live and work inside the Beltway are so smart, we know better.
Except you don’t, and I refer to J Bryant’s comment about the complete lack of an exit strategy.
This article is poorly written–what one would expect from an author with a Phd who has published exclusively nonsense.
Powell was a putz (Yiddish). He was a disgrace, a toady to the Bushies, someone who was a massive beneficiary of so-called “positive discrimination.” An incompetent political hack who only rose because of his skin color–which wasn’t even that black. Wasn’t there some Scottish in his background?
The first Gulf War was not so much a war as mass murder. And it was entirely unnecessary, as 1. Kuwait really is/was the 19th province of Iraq, despite some Brits randomly drawing lines in the sand last century, and 2. the US, through US Ambassador April Glaspie, also a putz, told Saddam right before to go ahead and invade Kuwait, not an American problem (think I’m kidding? look it up!); 3. The first President Bush initially tried to sell the war to protect the “valiant Kuwaiti people who were fighting so hard against the invaders…..” This didn’t work when news coverage of “the valiant Kuwaitis” were seen with their Mercedes loaded to the gills with TVs, gold and other kit fleeing, to Saudi, I think….” When reality undermined this lie, President Bush said, “OK, you were right, this really is a war about oil,” and it was also about protecting the Saudis–great friends of the Bush family (See, 9/11). Trivia Question: Saudi Arabia changed its national anthem at this time in recognition that if not for the USA they would be speaking Arabic with Iraqi accents. What was the new anthem you ask? A: Onward Christian Soldiers.
The first Gulf War led to the second Gulf War, also mass murder. “Saddam tried to kill my Daddy….” Powell was a disgrace and a coward. Can we stop with the hagiographies? He could have resigned when it counted, as the US and maybe the world was, unaccountably, under his spell at the time, as it would later be with another fake, Obama. Powell’s resignation would have stopped the second Gulf War, and changed the course of history. But he didn’t. Coward.
Rot in hell!
With respect, I posted much of the same information on another CP obituary, (hagiography?), and it was quite well received. A bit gobsmacked that this had such a different reaction. I even copied “rot in hell” from another commenter, because I was afraid of the censor, but since his post made it, why not? No apologies: I said it, I meant it, I stand behind it. The major difference is that this one attacks this foreign grifter as much as CP. Zhalimid Khalizad is another example of exactly the type that America all too often falls for–an Afghan poser/grifter/fraud and neocon who ingratiated himself with the Bushies and helped them start wars and commit war crimes. Does anyone think he was really representing America’s interests in the Middle East? I don’t.
Another example is Orthodox Jew Martin Indyk, who became America’s Ambassador to Israel 15 minutes after becoming a US citizen. Does anyone think he was representing America’s interests in the Middle East?
I don’t.
I enjoyed this article. I’m not sure how objective is the author’s assessment of Powell since he obviously regarded the general as a friend, but I do think this article provides insight into the circumstances surrounding Powell’s apparent support of the Iraq invasion. If nothing else, the author was an insider to those events.
I still remember discussing the Iraq invasion with a neighbor (sadly, now deceased) while we waited for the morning bus to work. She asked why we were invading and we briefly discussed the suggestion that Saddam was developing nukes. Then she asked, “So how are we going to get out?” I had no answer to that one. If two ordinary people at a bus stop could figure out the key flaw in the plan, why couldn’t the giant brains in the Pentagon, CIA and government do the same?
It’s not a ‘key flaw’ at all. You could say that about every war. The fact is, the winner of every war imposes a settlement on the losers. Obama chose not to do that, and withdraw unilaterally, throwing away nine years, hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. He did it for stupid ideological reasons, not reasons of state. But then the West has no idea how to do anything effectively any more.
Thank you. A beautiful and informative picture of an interesting historical figure.
I liked the human warmth of the article reminding us that those at the top are human too.
On the general theme of the Iraq invasion I would like to see discussion on the strategic opportunism on the part of the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11.
“was not much mentioned at the time, as far as I can recall, except perhaps in the vernacular press that I do not read.”
haha… I quit reading after this as the article is obviously weighty and would have a lot which interested me, but this throw away line was so fun I could not return to the serious stuff…….
‘British India, the Vernacular Press Act (1878)’ was to stop native News Papers spreading anti British sentiment, or even facts, and imposed a system of ‘Fact Checking’ Censorship exactly along the lines of our current News system, NYT, BBC, CNN, Google, Youtube, and Twitter do. Anything against the hard implicit Liberal Bias is deemed to not be NOT true, or Harmful, or Wrong, and thus canceled, and deleted, including the writers.
History rhyming as it were, although my guess is the writer is not using the words in this way, but more to mean the ‘Gutter Press, or more plebeian news outlets of those days. But a great fit – as the Social Media today is really the new Imperial Government Mouthpiece, and it completely censors any wrongness, true or not, against our Postmodernist Liberal Elites, just as the Act of 1878 did against the British Empire.
You really shouldn’t have quit reading the article.
Like Powell, Luttwak was a member of good standing in the deep state before time passed him by.
This is a very apt characterization of Powell’s contribution to US military doctrine in the post Vietnam era. He was foremost among the officers who embraced the strategic implications of what the US Army once called ‘Lessons Learned’, e.g., that incremental escalation and nation building are dangerous whirlpool’s that are unsustainable.
Gulf War I demonstrated what military power could successfully achieve given reasonable objectives and the political will to exercise overwhelming force. It also vindicated the concept of a professional volunteer force. The rush to war in Iraq in 2003 was a political decision, not Powell’s, that both parties voted for with a few exceptions. I do not think he could have resisted it given the circumstances of the time.
Interesting article
A third term Regan Presidency? Somewhat surprised nobody considered the 22nd amendment to the Constitution limiting an individual to two terms. It’s all in the detail.
Personally I find it amazing that Powell is classified as black. He has got slightly curly hair and a slightly less European nose than normal and that, at least in America, is all it takes. Interesting to see that Americans are still applying the “one drop” rule, even when an understanding that f genetics makes a mockery of racial classification in this way.
I judge the character of people I encounter by the way that they treat ordinary people who they deal with during the day. I have always had respect for Powell as a man. On a flight in Asia, after his retirement, he and his wife sat behind me. I recognised him and nodded a greeting then sat down. Over the next few hours I could not help but hear his interaction with the cabin crew and his wife. Polite and respectful of others, – he was a brilliant self made man, but he was, as far as I could see, a gentleman.
Considering his work covering up for and lying about US war crimes in Vietnam and Iraq, it would have been a bit hypocritical for Powell to complain about racism.
What tosh! What a poser, what an international, intellectual grifter! A celebration of inside the Beltway intrigue. We who live and work inside the Beltway are so smart, we know better.
Except you don’t, and I refer to J Bryant’s comment about the complete lack of an exit strategy.
This article is poorly written–what one would expect from an author with a Phd who has published exclusively nonsense.
Powell was a putz (Yiddish). He was a disgrace, a toady to the Bushies, someone who was a massive beneficiary of so-called “positive discrimination.” An incompetent political hack who only rose because of his skin color–which wasn’t even that black. Wasn’t there some Scottish in his background?
The first Gulf War was not so much a war as mass murder. And it was entirely unnecessary, as 1. Kuwait really is/was the 19th province of Iraq, despite some Brits randomly drawing lines in the sand last century, and 2. the US, through US Ambassador April Glaspie, also a putz, told Saddam right before to go ahead and invade Kuwait, not an American problem (think I’m kidding? look it up!); 3. The first President Bush initially tried to sell the war to protect the “valiant Kuwaiti people who were fighting so hard against the invaders…..” This didn’t work when news coverage of “the valiant Kuwaitis” were seen with their Mercedes loaded to the gills with TVs, gold and other kit fleeing, to Saudi, I think….” When reality undermined this lie, President Bush said, “OK, you were right, this really is a war about oil,” and it was also about protecting the Saudis–great friends of the Bush family (See, 9/11). Trivia Question: Saudi Arabia changed its national anthem at this time in recognition that if not for the USA they would be speaking Arabic with Iraqi accents. What was the new anthem you ask? A: Onward Christian Soldiers.
The first Gulf War led to the second Gulf War, also mass murder. “Saddam tried to kill my Daddy….”
Powell was a disgrace and a coward. Can we stop with the hagiographies? He could have resigned when it counted, as the US and maybe the world was, unaccountably, under his spell at the time, as it would later be with another fake, Obama. Powell’s resignation would have stopped the second Gulf War, and changed the course of history. But he didn’t. Coward.
Rot in hell!
A bit harsh but who knows you may have a point.
Cheers, mate, and thank you for keeping an open mind. You might see my thoughts below.
Good heavens got out of the wrong side of bed or is Friday spleen day in your house?
With respect, I posted much of the same information on another CP obituary, (hagiography?), and it was quite well received. A bit gobsmacked that this had such a different reaction. I even copied “rot in hell” from another commenter, because I was afraid of the censor, but since his post made it, why not?
No apologies: I said it, I meant it, I stand behind it. The major difference is that this one attacks this foreign grifter as much as CP. Zhalimid Khalizad is another example of exactly the type that America all too often falls for–an Afghan poser/grifter/fraud and neocon who ingratiated himself with the Bushies and helped them start wars and commit war crimes. Does anyone think he was really representing America’s interests in the Middle East?
I don’t.
Another example is Orthodox Jew Martin Indyk, who became America’s Ambassador to Israel 15 minutes after becoming a US citizen. Does anyone think he was representing America’s interests in the Middle East?
I don’t.