Now Powell Tells Us - Bush Took 'Misleading' Cheney Advice - Robert Sheer

[kpete]

Now Powell tells us
Robert Scheer, Creators Syndicate

Wednesday, April 12, 2006


"I didn’t need Wilson to tell me that there wasn’t a Niger connection. He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. I never believed it.”
-Colin Powell

Report: Powell says Bush took 'misleading' Cheney advice, ignored State Department

On Monday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told me that he and his department's top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat, but that the president followed the misleading advice of Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA in making the claim. Now he tells us.

The harsh truth is that this president cherry-picked the intelligence data in making his case for invading Iraq and deliberately kept the public in the dark as to the countervailing analysis at the highest level of the intelligence community. While the president and his top Cabinet officials were fear-mongering with stark images of a "mushroom cloud" over American cities, the leading experts on nuclear weaponry at the Department of Energy (the agency in charge of the U.S. nuclear-weapons program) and the State Department thought the claim of a near-term Iraqi nuclear threat was absurd.

...

"The CIA was pushing the aluminum tube argument heavily and Cheney went with that instead of what our guys wrote," Powell said. And the Niger reference in Bush's State of the Union speech? "That was a big mistake," he said. "It should never have been in the speech. I didn't need Wilson to tell me that there wasn't a Niger connection. He didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. I never believed it."

When I pressed further as to why the president played up the Iraq nuclear threat, Powell said it wasn't the president: "That was all Cheney." A convenient response for a Bush family loyalist, perhaps, but it begs the question of how the president came to be a captive of his vice president's fantasies.

more at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/12/EDGNSGUB1N1.DTL&hw=Robert+Scheer&sn=001&sc=1000
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Report_Powell_hits_Cheney_on_manupulation_0412.html

[speedoo]

1. Fuck you, Powell.

You knew all this and yet you went ahead with that bullshit UN speech anyway? And you stood by and did nothing while this idiot * took us to an unnecessary war?

What the fuck were you thinking?

You are as evil as the rest of them.

Burn in hell, you traitor.

[kaygore]

7. Ditto--souless bastard

May he and all his heirs to the 20th generation rot on hell!

[yodermon]

15. But if he testifies against Cheney

in his Treason trial, I will grant him immunity from the 9th Circle of Hell down to, oh, let's say the 7th.
http://www.wsu.edu/~alake/the_circles_of_hell.htm

[Poiuyt]

2. Why didn't Powell speak out back then??

He had more loyalty to Bush than to America

[DemoTex]

6. Why didn't Powell speak out about My Lai or Iran Contra?

It is because Powell suffers from a major character flaw. He is a congenital liar.

[speedoo]

3. Even more in the original article by Robert Scheer..

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060411_bush_leak_plame_libby_powell/

Worth reading.

[lumpy]

4. Bush/Cheney should be charged

and brought to justice and Powell should be branded a traitor.

[leesa]

5. Bullshit. Bush wanted Iraq Taken out. He said so loud and clear. He was

in on the plot from day one, just like Colin was. See them squirm as the noose tightens.

[Missy M]

8. You are right, Bush wanted to invade Iraq from day one.....

and Powell is a liar. He was the Secretary of State at the time and I'm sure could have the president's ear regarding the Niger uranium being untrue. They are all guilty and should somehow pay for their crimes.

[Tyler Durden]

9. Anyway you slice it, Powell: a disgrace to the uniform.

He should be brought back to active duty, THEN courtmarialed and cashiered, complete with the uniform stripping and sword breaking on parade.

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. Crawl back in your hole, Colin. You've done your damage.

We don't need or WANT your input NOW. It would have been nice Pre-illegal invasion of Iraq, but instead you chose to crawl in bed with the devil. Just go away, you piece of crap.:grr: Bastard.:grr:

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. "The CIA was pushing the aluminum tube argument..." ?????

Ummmm....was that before or after Dick's numerous visits?

[Supersedeas]

13. What?? Didn't the CIA demand reference to it be taken out of Cinncinati

speech???

[Pithy Cherub]

12. Powell is still trying to wash his Macbeth hands.

His honor, integrity and credibility have been abandoned. Powell's shame should dwell with him for the rest of his life.

[Catrina]

14. It was Powell's UN speech that finally convinced many Americans

that the war was necessary ~ I've read that he insisted on having Tenet sit behind him where he would be seen on-camera, giving legitimacy to his claims. When he says 'CIA' he means Tenet.

So now, Powell blatantly admits that when he made that speech, he knew it was all a lie. In 'Dead Wrong' the claim was that he discarded some of the material that was presented to him, but I was led to believe that at least he did believe that what he presented to the UN was true, even though most experts did not.

This is reprehensible ~ and aren't there penalties for lying to the UN in matters as serious as getting not only this country, but others, into war?

Why is he admitting this now? Maybe it is going to come out? Could Tenet be writing about it in his up-coming book, and Colin is 'pre-empting' the information?

They are all traitors ~ all liars and I don't know why they are all still in office. Something is not functioning right in this government.

I would like to hear from the Dems on this ~ I hope they make a literal federal case out of it, but I won't hold my breath.

[opihimoimoi]

16. CP has tons of BLOOD on HIS HANDS TOO....Dumb fuck, coulda woulda

shoulda told us before the 04 election...but kept his fuckin mouth shut...

He is GUILTY along with them Bastards....