"The president didn't know why I was there," Mr Powell said

[dajoki]

The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20509967-23109,00.html

Powell 'warned Bush of Iraq quagmire'

From correspondents in Washington
October 02, 2006

FORMER US secretary of state Colin Powell warned President George W. Bush he was facing a difficult insurgency in Iraq in their final meeting in January last year, a new biography of Mr Powell claims.

Washington Post associate editor Karen DeYoung, in an excerpt from her forthcoming biography of the former chief diplomat in the Post today, said Mr Powell told Mr Bush the coming Iraqi elections and US promotion of democracy for the country were not likely to quell the insurgency.

He also warned that divisions between the State Department and the politically more powerful Department of Defence were undermining Mr Bush's global diplomatic efforts, including in problem areas such as the North Korean nuclear problem and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

However, DeYoung wrote, Mr Powell, who had been asked by the White House to resign several weeks before, found Mr Bush dismissive and unconcerned, as unwilling to heed his top diplomat's warnings as he had been for the previous four years.

Mr Powell afterward called the meeting, a formal final face-to-face between the two men before Mr Powell would be replaced by Condoleezza Rice, as "really strange", DeYoung said.

"The president didn't know why I was there," Mr Powell said.

[pinto]

1. Apparently he thought it was "taken care of". It's his life long MO.

(on edit) ie - Others have done Bush's dirty work for years, cleaned up his messes, etc. I think it's a personal trait. Or a personal fault, to be more blunt.

[theoldman]

2. If I were Colin Powell I would be really pissed at the way he was

treated by Bush. I expect that sometime in the future Powell will spill the beans on a lot of things that went on while he was Secretary of State.

[dajoki]

3. We can at least hope n/t

[frylock]

5. but by then it will be too little, too late..

Powell will continue to do his master's bidding. I've said it before and i'll say it again; Powell just do the honorable thing. He's an absolute disgrace to this country.

[napi21]

4. Ya know...all the people who had a brain in the WH are GONE!

Powell, Paul O'Neil, etc.

[ellacott]

6. The Book is Scheduled to be Released

On Oct. 10th. Good timing. This should be an interesting book.

[stella]

9. Powell still likes the Bushes

I will be surprise if Powell`s book mocks bush.
Powell is the "good soldier"

[kestrel91316]

7. Oh, come on, COLIN - - -

"Mr Powell afterward called the meeting, a formal final face-to-face between the two men before Mr Powell would be replaced by Condoleezza Rice, as "really strange", DeYoung said.

"The president didn't know why I was there," Mr Powell said."

This surprises you, Colin?????? You knew (or always should have) that he was a COMPLETE CRETIN and an alcoholic with brain damage.

[stella]

8. Bush used Powell

to make the case for the Iraq war and then dumbed him like a used vacum cleaner bag

[Skittles]

13. Colin worked for bush after they stole the election

in part by denying blacks the right to vote. Mr. Powell, who to this day has not opened up about how bad this misadministration really is, is republican whore to the core.

[MissMarple]

10. Oh just great, another mad King George.

This entire Powell thing is just so bizarre. It makes Bush and Cheney appear absolutely deranged.

[dajoki]

11. They are deranged n/t

[Disturbed]

12. Colin Powell.didn't resign before he spewed his lies

at the UN. He lost his integrity that day. He is trying to regain it but for most that have been paying attention it is way too late for that. I will never respect him.

[ellacott]

14. The freepers are already trashing Powell

They're calling him a traitor.

[dajoki]

20. I agree 100% n/t

[Supersedeas]

15. and this has to come out of Australia to see the light of day????

[dajoki]

22. Yes, amazing, isn't it?

[Radical Activist]

16. Sorry Powell, but you helped make this happen.

Backing out of it now doesn't excuse what you did.

[dajoki]

19. Absolutely...

I don't give a crap what he says now, he is still a big part of it!!

[DeepModem Mom]

17. K&R

[gratuitous]

18. American celebrities make Japanese commercials

Some of the most godawful commercials you can imagine are made in Japan, starring American celebrities doing things they'd never, ever do in front of a camera if an American audience was seeing it. But the big, fat check they get is wonderful compensation for the jaw-dropping antics they put on to hawk Japanese products, with the proviso that those commercials are to never air in the United States.

By the same token, Colin Powell will gladly chat with correspondents for English language newspapers all over the world, confident that the revelations in England or Australia will be safely sanitized by his friends and admirers in the United States. This enables Powell to look reasonable to the rest of the world while not alienating the crucial money base of the haves and the have-mores here in the States, which is his prime source of current income from out-sized speaking fees, board memberships, and advisory committee postings.

Don't look for anything too negative about President Simpleton to come out of Powell's media machine during the next month. That's well and good for the Brits and the Aussies, but American audiences will get the usual pap.

[welshTerrier2]

21. Dear Colin

i don't know why you were there either ... what the hell were you thinking?

loyalty should never take a back seat to the truth ... and you knew that ...