Those who consider Powell an island of integrity in a sea of deceit should think again. The general's history suggests, rather, a careerist skilled in getting along and a bureaucrat geared to telling his superiors what they want to hear.
For starters, people need to be reminded that Powell conducted the initial My Lai white wash. In 1968 Major Colin Powell, a deputy assistant chief of staff at the Americal Division, was charged with investigating the letter that first warned brass that troops in the division were involved in atrocities. Powell's "investigation" found no evidence of any massacres or widespread abuses.
As a White House fellow during Watergate, Powell kept his mouth shut as the administration crumbled and cultivated his relationship with Cap Weinberger. That bore fruit when Weinberger, named Reagan's Defense Secretary, selected the fawning Powell as a top military aide.
Powell did what he needed to do for Cap. After Weinberger (later pardoned by Bush I for his criminal acts) received a call from John Poindexter informing him of Reagan's decision to send weapons to Iran, he instructed his military aide -- Maj. Gen. Colin Powell -- to arrange the transfer of the weapons to the CIA, and to keep his mouth shut.
"General Powell had had previous discussions with Oliver North about the program and about Israel's problems in getting replacement TOW's [missiles]. .... According to [Assistant DOD Secretary] Armitage and a CIA official, Powell worked with Major General Vincent Russo, of the Defense Logistics Agency to provide the material securely and without any loss of funds for the Army." -- The National Security Archive, "The Chronology: The Documented Day-by-Day Account of the Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Contras," Warner Books, 1987, p. 262
"Weinberger ... ordered his military aide, Major General Colin L. Powell, to arrange the sale of TOW's for North's new deal." -- Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus, "Landslide: The Unmaking of the President 1984-1988," p. 197
After Powell became Reagan's National Security Advisor, he threatened to cut off US aid to any Central American country that refused to support the US-backed Contra war against Nicaragua.
Powell is continuing to get along -- this time by falling into line behind other Iran-Contra veterans seeking this destructive and ruinous war in Iraq. Powell is well qualified to dissemble and deceive; but to present a moral case for democracy and human rights and to argue for the rule of ls as stained as the rest of them. And those who trust any "evidence" presented by Powell for anything should remember his failure to uncover one scrap of "evidence" of even "incidents" at My Lai 4 in 1968. M2 |
