A Little Fight Left in Powell
Very interesting exchange being reported by the AP today in regards to Colin Powell's testimony before the International Relations Committee. According to the Associated Press it starts off as you would expect:
Under questioning by House Democrats, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday he was surprised U.N. and American inspectors did not find storehouses of hidden weapons in Iraq.
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"I don't think anyone in America should think that President Bush cooked the books," Powell said.
"The reason we told you there were stockpiles there was because we believed it to be true," Powell said. "We were surprised when they did not turn up."
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But Reps. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., Robert Melendez, D-N.J., Rep. Robert I Wexler, D-Fla., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, challenged Powell about the administration's case, suggesting it may have been misleading from the outset.
"Truth is the first casualty of war," Ackerman said. "I would contend truth was murdered before a shot was fired."
"We went into this war under false premises," Melendez said.
Wexler told Powell he considered him to be "the credible voice in the administration."
"When you reached the conclusion that Iraq represented a clear and present danger to the United States, that meant a lot to me," Wexler said. "But the facts suggest there was a part of the story that was not true."
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Powell fielded the assertions calmly, defending the president's judgment and his own.
Then the confrontation took a very interesting turn:
But when Brown contrasted Powell's military experience to Bush's record with the National Guard, saying the president "may have been AWOL" from duty, Powell exploded.
"First of all, Mr. Brown, I won't dignify your comments
about the president because you don't know what you are
talking about," Powell snapped.
"I'm sorry I don't know what you mean, Mr. Secretary,"
Brown replied.
"You made reference to the president," Powell shot back.
Brown then repeated his understanding that Bush may have
been AWOL from guard duty.
"Mr. Brown, let's not go there," Powell retorted. "Let's
not go there in this hearing. If you want to have a
political fight on this matter, that is very
controversial, and I think it is being dealt with by the
White House, fine, but let's not go there."
Powell then went on to defend the Bush administration's
assertions on Iraq's pre-war weaponry. "We didn't make it
up," Powell said. "It was information that reflected the
views of analysts in all the various agencies."
Funny how this has not made the air on the mainstream
media since it happened. You would think this would turn
into great television, but then again it was someone
defending the president instead of smearing him.
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