Powell Says Europe Must Reach Out To US Too

[Mari333]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell urged Europe on Friday to help heal rifts over Iraq with the United States instead of relying on the Bush administration to be the peacemaker.

Widely respected in Europe and perceived as favoring traditional alliances more than other Cabinet members, Powell said Europe should respond in kind to President Bush's pledge to reach out across the Atlantic.

"I think Europe has to reach out as well," Powell told Reuters in an interview as he prepares to leave office. "We have to meet one another here and not just say, 'Come on, United States, it's all your fault. You heal these breaches."'






http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=0M3SEZSTV2B24CRBAEOCFFA?type=domesticNews&storyID=6993149

[donheld]

1. Did he mean

Old Europe or New Europe. i think europe as a whole should reach accross the pond an :spank: US

[tandot]

2. Hey Powell: Go f*ck yourself

Why should Europe lick Bush's boots?

They were right all along. Why start a war on a country that was absolutely NO threat to the US? Why kill and maim tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis in an unnecessary war? Why should they sacrifice their children to die for an arrogant, ignorant, and incompetent a**hole who wants to dominate this planet?

[movonne]

23. That's my thoughts exactly (your header)...

[eyepaddle]

30. I'll second that. nt

[Brundle_Fly]

3. so what is shrub doing to reach out to EU

going to canada?

I think shrub should at least make an attempt before sending out his lackies to tell europe it's them who have to reach out.

[Just Me]

48. He's not very convincing about WHY "old europe" should reach out,...

,...is he.

Like ya' said, Powell: ya' invade and occupy Iraq and it's all yours.

Your choice,...your responsibility.

[w4rma]

4. Condescending BS like this just ticks off our former allies, more.

But, look on the bright side, Powell. You can always find solace in the many 3rd rate dictatorships all around the world who are more than willing to do anything you want them to do in return for some bribes or in return for looking the other way while they kill and torture people.

[tsuki]

5. You spit on someone, and they are supposed to apologize to you.

We're the CHRISTIAN NATION. It should be up to Bushco to make amends.

Go away Powell. You blew it.

[Benhurst]

6. Shut-up, Colin. Who cares what a war criminal thinks? nt

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sweetheart]

39. No he's not

Its about time these criminal war makers, who tried europeans and
sentenced them to death for making aggressive war, that those people
are judged by their own standards, and shouldered the full responsibility for fixing iraq, the full cost, unilaterally,
just like the US started it. Bush has gotten what he wants, and all
the world's politicians realize that by leaving him with the
quagmire, he'll become weaker and weaker as his government goes
bankrupt supporing his crimes.

What does any european owe any war criminal, except a fair trial.

I'm sorry that good highland boys are dying for this futile cause
of defending criminal acts with cynical administrative nihilism,
the bliar/bush axis of theocon troublemaking.

Europe paid in the blood of many millions more than america, the
real cost of war, and the crime is not funny. Sterotyping the
europeans to avoid responisbility is unwise.

[GoBlue]

8. Maybe an apology would be in order -Colin

:nopity:

[DrZeeLit]

9. My first response: Why?

Why should "they" do anything at this point?
After being bullied, lied to, trashed in every possible way (and Freedom Fries wasn't on my mind here) -- why would they even care?
The Euro is up. They seem to be doing fine without us.
Their soldiers are not dying.

Bush has made no move to be civil. Why must they make any moves?
We are in the wrong. We need to apologize.

[Hieronymus]

10. Just when I thought Powell...

couldn't sink any lower.:eyes:

[aquart]

13. See how wrong you were?

Colin still has unplumbed depths.

[3days]

11. We take back all those "freedom fries" comments

Now kiss our asses.
What a pud!

[Scrooge]

12. WTF would they??

After so many Americans thumbed their noses up at them.. why the hell would Europe want to reach out. Sheesh!!

[joanski01]

14. Why doesn't Colin Powell just

shut up. Why should they snuggle up to us? He's the one who lied at the UN. Only the US media has forgiven Bushco* for lying.

[saracat]

15. Wake up Colin. I believe they tried that and were told

to go Cheney themselves! Colin drinking the kool aid till the end and putting the finishing touches on the destruction of his credilibility. And to think many of us once thought he was honorable!

[hatrack]

22. And doing so as the ultimate lame-duck SOS

Well, everything else he's done has been a total cock-up, so why not? :eyes:

[judaspriestess]

16. Powells implanted microchip has a short in it.

[amazona]

17. ha if the dollar keeps falling they can just buy US nt

.

[Mike Niendorff]

18. No appeasement.

This is just typical Bush strategy: start with a wildly extreme position, then pretend to "compromise" by making some marginal concession that has no real meaning, while expecting opponents to "compromise" on everything else. I sincerely hope other nations hold a hard line against the Bush machine, and tell him just where to shove this little scam. God knows, we've failed to do so effectively in this country ...


MDN

[Bouncy Ball]

19. Oh My God.

Was that the DEFINITION of hubris, or what?

Geez, that turned my fucking stomach.

Hey bush administration: guess what? YOU CREATED THIS MESS, YOU CLEAN IT UP.

Europe doesn't owe us SHIT. How insulting for him to even insinuate that they do. There go the bushies, pissing people off again. What would they do if they couldn't flip off the whole world?

[Buck Rabbit]

20. "relying on the Bush administration to be the peacemaker"

Did he say that without cracking up? If so his next career should be as a comedic actor.

Maybe it is a misprint and should read piecemaker? They turn homes into shovelable size pieces.

[hatrack]

21. And just why "must" they do that, Colon?

Another golden moment of obligatory unity and bipartisanship, eh Sec. Bowel?

[NYC Liberal]

24. Well it's a LITTLE LATE for that, ain't it Colin?

Now that YOU'VE created this mess, YOU have to clean it up.

"We were right, you were wrong...now give us money!"

Unbelievable!

[Barkley]

25. Aren't wounded US troops being treated in Germany?

Fallujah casualties routed to Germany
U.S. military hospital is adding beds to care for large number of soldiers injured in assault.
http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/today/1112-Fallujahca-224664.html

[Kellanved]

29. in an US Army Hospital

A relic of the cold war, so to say.

But yes, the German Army guards US installations, German Army Hospitals are used for some cases. Germany is willing to train the Iraqi police and army, as well as to waive Iraq's debt.
Also, Germany did deploy several thousand soldiers to contain Iraq in a worst-case scenario - just not in Iraq itself.

[Stinky The Clown]

26. What an outrageous thing to say ........

We have a president, Chimpus Khan, the philosophical scio of Gengis Khan, a man who is a direct and clear threat to the entire world. Europe rebuffs him and **they** have to reach out?????

Bullshit.

[FreeCajun]

27. The Abusers rear their heads...

This is exactly the kind of thing that abusers do, making their victims and anyone who spoke up against them apologize. This is some seriously sick and twisted S***.

[NYC]

47. I totally agree with you.

[ReadTomPaine]

28. If they reach out it should be to slap some sense into us. n/t

[myomy]

31. Just what does Òreach outÓ mean? You can become black and blue

by turning the other cheek, you know.

[bemildred]

32. No, no, no! We are the lone hyperpower. We need no one.

We don't care what anybody thinks. Unilateral, that's us.

[Tight_rope]

33. Go Cheney yourself Powell!

[daleo]

34. Widely respected in Europe - by whom?

The European branch of the Liar's club?

[gula]

35. Shrub's pledge to reach out

Yeah right, just like he reached out to us Canucks this week. Some out-reach that was. I hope the Europeans pee all over him. They could get by quite nicely without the US.

[Cronus Protagonist]

36. I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Powell and the Bush Administration

Europe should extend the same kind of support the Bush administration offers, which can be summed up with the following - "agree with us, work with us on our agenda or fuck off".

tit for tat




http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[yorkiemommie1]

37. shaddup

What is the problem with this man???? This breach IS all the US's fault!

This is the same crap the GOP is feeding us.... that WE have to cooperate with them!

It is BushCo's fault. They created all of these problems! They own them. It is up to THEM to fix things.

this is such insulting garbage! damn them to hell!

[Javaman]

38. Once again, Everyone? fuck you, mr. assname powell!!!

[distantearlywarning]

40. We are the most arrogant, self-serving nation on the face of this planet.

President Bush *said* he would reach out to them...well, that certainly eases my mind! I'm sure it does the same for the leaders of Europe! After all, we wouldn't LIE or anything, would we?

(end of sarcasm)

I hope that every leader in Europe sends Bush a letter back that says "Screw You".

[MisterP]

41. Colon's hair has turned WHITE overnight! it looks like cake mix

[acmavm]

42. Colin Powell: Failed Opportunist

(I think it's quite appropriate to repost this article on this thread)

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/112604.html

<snip>

Colin Powell’s admirers – especially in the mainstream press – have struggled for almost two years to explain how and why their hero joined in the exaggerations and deceptions that led the nation into the disastrous war in Iraq. Was he himself deceived by faulty intelligence or was he just acting as the loyal soldier to his commander-in-chief?

But there is another, less flattering explanation that fits with the evidence of Powell’s life story: that the outgoing secretary of state has always been an opportunist who consistently put his career and personal status ahead of America’s best interests.

From his earliest days as a junior officer in Vietnam through his acquiescence to George W. Bush’s Iraq adventure, Colin Powell repeatedly has failed to stand up against actions that were immoral, unethical or reckless. At every turning point, Powell protected his career above all else.

Yet, Powell’s charisma – and the fact that he is a prominent and successful African-American – have protected him from any clear-eyed assessment of his true record. Even when Powell has publicly defended war crimes, such as the shooting of defenseless “military-aged males” in Vietnam, national journalists have preferred to focus on Powell’s sparkling style over his troubling substance.

<snip>

What we found in our investigation of Powell’s legend was not the heroic figure of his press clippings, but the story of an ambitious man with a weak moral compass. He either hid in the reeds when others were standing up for what they knew to be right or he contributed to the wrongdoing (albeit often while wringing his hands and confiding to reporters that he really wasn’t entirely comfortable).

Another amazing aspect of Powell’s life story was his Forrest-Gump-like quality to show up in frame after frame of turning-point moments in recent American history, except in Powell’s case, he almost never did the right thing. Indeed, one could argue that the reason Powell found himself in the middle of so many historical moments was that he never sacrificed his career on the altar of challenging corrupt or foolish superiors.

-LOTS MORE-

[Chicago Democrat]

43. Blah blah blah

:puke:

[VegasWolf]

44. Why reach out to US, they're going to China where to real power is! n/t

[DBoon]

45. When it takes a wheelbarrow full of dollars to buy a loaf of bread

maybe the Europeans should send us some emergency assistance.

Until then, I see no need for them to reach out.

[KDLarsen]

46. Unfortunately for Powell..

"We have to meet one another here and not just say, 'Come on, United States, it's all your fault. You heal these breaches'."

Is a statement of truth - it's the actions of the US government that has created the breaches, so I'd say it's the US governments job to heal. Does the little thing about 'If you break it, you own it', ring a bell Powell?

[Solly Mack]

49. So Europe has to be the better angel?

And hold the hand of friendship out to a man who who has repeatedly held himself up as beyond reproach....no matter how wrong he has been?

Bush isn't some child just learning the lessons of how "friendships" work.

Europe will make it's own decisions on how to survive with Shrub in office another 4 years...and it doesn't need some weak-spined gutless wonder like Powell telling it what to do.

[demgrrrll]

50. Yea so we can hit the other hand with the hammer. C'mon I won't do it

again, put your hand out. Would you?

[Swamp Rat]

51. Goddamn "house lizard."