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September 14, 2006
The More Things Change
During the first Gulf war, a multi-national coalition managed to crush Saddam Hussein's army in a matter of weeks. Militarily, it would have been easy for that force to move into Iraq's capital, get rid of Hussein and end his reign of terror.
One man was instrumental in talking the president out of it. He considered keeping Europe happy more important than ending the rule of a murderer.
If Powell thinks our moral superiority to medieval savages hangs by the thread of which standard of proof we use at Gitmo, let him say that. If he personally has a problem with Khaled Sheikh Mohammed being belly-slapped, let him say that. Putting it off on “the world” or, preposterously, on the danger it poses to the troops — as though Zarqawi would have eased off a bit if not for Abu Ghraib — is patronizing and actually quite stupid. Knowing that Colin Powell objects to our interrogations policies will give me pause; knowing that Europeans hungry for pretexts to justify their visceral hatred of America also object to them only makes me support those policies more.Powell was wrong then, and his moral preening is wrong now. If he had simply said he has doubts about using harsh tactics to interrogate terrorist suspects, that would have been more legitimate than saying "the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism."
Well, so far the world has stayed mostly silent over the actions of jihadists, who routinely kill innocents and murder those they've kidnapped by sawing off their heads with machetes. Foreign critics would have a lot more credibility with me if they had ever been as hard on the terrorists as they've been on the United States.
So needless to say, I don't have as much respect for the world's opinion as the former secretary of state.
Posted by slublog at September 14, 2006 08:13 PM
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Comments
Like many people, I once had a lot of respect for Powell. Now, not so much. He's pretty much done as far as being an influence in the Republican party now, but I wonder if the Dems are gonna start making overtures to him. If they manage to turn him, he would probably make a powerful ally to the Dark Side.
Posted by: Enas Yorl at September 14, 2006 09:34 PM
A few years ago, that probably would have been the case, but this Democratic party? I'm not sure. The Kossaks would eliminate anyone who had even the whiff of Republicanism.
Posted by: Slublog at September 14, 2006 10:05 PM
Good point. Her Majesty though is immune to the Kossaks, I think. She will need to bring Centrist Gravitas to her candidacy - Powell would be an attractive endorsement.
Posted by: Enas Yorl at September 14, 2006 11:35 PM