Of course you don't. Wait until you are a manager of a team of people, tejek. I have a pretty well managed team, if I don't say so myself. I also have a couple of superstars on my team who I trust. But every now and then, they'll tell me versions of the truth on an issue that doesn't pass muster. Sometimes I catch it, sometimes I don't. MOST of the time, I have to rely on what my team tells me, because I simply don't have time to double check every minor detail of their work. Now since my team is really good, they make me look good. But when they screw up and I report on bad data, guess who looks bad? Me. That's the life of a manager.
Excuse me. Don't tell what I have been and haven't been. I was a VP by the time I was 27 with 30 people working under me. I know the games people play. That's not what we have here.
Powell and Bush are managers. I think Bush in particular is a very crappy manager, but I actually have quite a bit of respect for Powell.
Powell was arrogant. He thought he could control and direct the Bushies. He thought disposing Saddam was the right way to go. He was terribly wrong. Many people relied on his judgement because they thought he was the only rational, seasoned person in the WH. They thought Powell was a man of integrity. Instead, he allowed himself to be duped and in the process, betrayed his nation. Apparently, you were duped as well.
He wouldn't lie just because his superior told him to. If Powell reported on something, then it was because he believed it to be true.
In fact, the State Dept warned Powell what he was going to say was not true:
"And according to memos released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the State Department also warned Powell not to use the aluminum tubes hypothesis in the days before his February 2003 U.N. speech. He refused and used the aluminum tubes claim anyway."
<snip>
"In the fall of 2002, the CIA told administration officials not to include this uranium assertion in presidential speeches. Specifically, the agency sent two memos to the White House and Tenet personally called top national security officials imploring them not to use the claim. While the warnings forced the White House to remove a uranium reference from an October 2002 presidential address, they did not stop the charge from being included in the 2003 State of the Union."
<snip>
"Bush also neglected to point out that in early October 2002, the administration’s top military experts told the White House they “sharply disputed the notion that Iraq’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were being designed as attack weapons.” Specifically, the Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center correctly showed the drones in question were too heavy to be used to deploy chemical/biological-weapons spray devices.
Regardless, the chemical/biological weapons claims from the administration continued to escalate. Powell told the United Nations on February 5, 2003, “There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more.” As proof, he cited aerial images of a supposed decontamination vehicle circling a suspected weapons site.
According to newly released documents in the Senate Intelligence Committee report, Powell’s own top intelligence experts told him not to make such claims about the photographs. They said the vehicles were likely water trucks. He ignored their warnings."
<snip>
"On the morning of February 5, 2003, the same day Powell delivered his U.N. speech, British intelligence leaked a comprehensive report finding no substantial links between Iraq and al Qaeda. The BBC reported that British intelligence officials maintained “any fledgling relationship [between Iraq and al Qaeda] foundered due to mistrust and incompatible ideologies.” Powell, nonetheless, stood before the United Nations and claimed there was a “sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda.” A month later, Rice backed him up, saying al Qaeda “clearly has had links to the Iraqis.” And in his March 17, 2003, speech on the eve of war, Bush justified the invasion by citing the fully discredited Iraq-al Qaeda link."
inthesetimes.com
They told Tenet on the other hand, smells like a rat and I believe he is one. He floats with the wind and I bet he had quite a bit to do with the questionable intelligence passed upwards. He's more of a politico than what we need in our Director of Intelligence.
BS. Briefly said, Wilkerson is full of it. He is trying to cover his ass.
Anyway, believe what you want.
You read the above report from the 9/11 Commission in full and then I dare you to say that to me again.
The bunch of them are irresponsible, arrogant liars who betrayed their country. They should be tried for treason. |
