Is Colin Powell The Worst Secretary Of State in The Modern Era?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I came away from watching last night's Sixty Minutes show with contempt and disgust for Colin Powell...

Although I disagreed with Powell's Rockerfeller Republicanism I respected his tireless advocacy of affirmative action and an internationalist foreign policy...

Now it's confirmed that Bushco hatched the Iraqi invasion plan without consulting Powell because they knew he opposed it and than presented it to him as a fait accompli...

A man of integrity would have resigned as Cy Vance did after Carter eschewed negotiations and engaged in an aborted military attempt to free the hostages(I happen to think Carter was right but the failure of that mission made the U S look feckless).

The bottom line was that Cy Vance acted honorably in resigning over a matter of principal and national import...

It grieves me to say it but Colin Powell's behavior betrays a lack of honor which in the final analysis is all we really have...

Is Colin Powell the worst Secretary of State in the modern era?

[WI_DEM]

1. No

I vote for Henry Kissinger who lied constantly as well as being a war criminal.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Kissinger Believed In The Policies He Was Executing

Powell apparently doesn't

[Warpy]

4. That doesn't matter to the dead

That Kissinger believed in being a murderous SOB doesn't make him any less a war criminal, and the sheer scale of his evil still makes him worse than the lying SOB Powell.

[atre]

15. Hitler believed in the policies he was executing...

Your point is...?

[Jack from Charlotte]

19. Kissinger, hands down.

[w13rd0]

2. I don't know....

...we are comparing him to James Baker here. That's a tough call. It's not as if Sec of State is a position that means anything in the Bush WH. I don't know how much I'm gonna fault a lifetime yes man for continuing to be a {what belefonte called him}...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. My Problem Is Powell Doesn't Believe In The Policies He's Executing....

Worse than Belafonte's slap you could argue he suffers from the "good German" phenomenon...

There's no place for that in a democracy....

[wtmusic]

12. He's a smart guy with little conviction

who got down on his knees when he had to

[GainesT1958]

6. I voted "No" because..

Powell is a victim--albeit an often-WILLING victim.:eyes:

Al Haig was completely complicit in the Death Squads in El Salvador, and the Contras in Nicaraugua. My vote would therefore go to another, much more sinister, Repub general--Al Haig!:mad:

B-)

[David__77]

7. The monstrous Kissenger has that distinction.

Powell is but a shadow of him in the evil department.

[Snow]

8. Your memories are too short. I vote for Kissinger,

but there's also Dean Acheson and especially John Foster Dulles to consider. They left us quite a legacy, especially in Latin America.

[NoPasaran]

9. Kissinger

Kissinger was a bona fide war criminal. The fact that he "believed" in his policies just testifies to the depths of his depravity.

Powell is merely a dishonorable pod person.

[glarius]

10. Harry Belafonte called Powell a "house slave" because he does what will

make the "master" happy, no matter what....Belafonte was CORRECT!

[oldleftguy]

11. The worst? No way!

Baker and his Contra ways were by far the worst in recent history.

[Penndems]

13. No , not by a long shot

That dubious distinction goes to James (a.k.a. "Jim-Bob") Baker. There's a good reason why he's a Bush family ally -- he's every bit as evil and vindictive as they are.

Baker ran the State Department as if it were his own private fiefdom. He and his minions were infamous for waging smear campaigns and character assassinations again anybody who went up against them.

Sound familiar?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Powell is weak; to be "the worst" you have to be actively evil

I'd vote for Henry Kissinger, with John Foster Dulles (Eisenhower's first Secretary of State) as a close second.

[amazona]

16. kissinger by far the worse

Powell appears to me to be a mere apologist for evil while Kissinger stands as a true architect of genocide.

[mitchum]

17. That "honor" belongs to war criminal Henry Kissinger

Powell is merely a shameless henchman

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. James A. Baker III

Evil incarnate.

[NNadir]

20. Difficult choice. I chose Kissinger over Powell as worst ever.

Kissinger was actually the executioner and to some extent the architect of abysmal immoral policy.

The mere figurehead Powell, always a coward throughout his career, merely acquiesced through weakness and lack of integrity.

[MrSlayer]

21. I can't believe he turned Clinton down but went with these assholes.

Powell is a sellout plain and simple. He sold out his integrity for his political career. I thought he was the one decent person in the administration but that turned out to be wrong, there are no decent people in this administration.

[ButterflyBlood]

22. No

He still doesn't even come close to Kissinger.

[fujiyama]

23. Powell is a pathetic, cowardly,

sack of shit, but he hasn't been very effective.

Kissinger, Baker, and Haig, all were worse than Powell.

[napi21]

24. I am just very disappointed in Powell.

I believe he had good intentions and was, almost single handedly, trying to get this admin. to use diplomacy. When I heard him speaking at the UN, showing pictures and trying to convince them to support the war in Iraq, I saw a very disappointing change in Powells attitude. He had caved, someone had gotten to him...he was now fighting the Bush attack game.

I would have been proud if he would have just resigned. Instead I'm very disappointed that he is just another a** ki**ing follow the leader guy who compromised his beliefs.