Punchbowl Politics To Turd: "Mr. Spit & Polish, Welcome"
Glenn Condell, commenting yesterday on his quoted excerpt of Chris Floyd's pithy characterization of Powell as "faithful servant of America's militarist empire" in yesterday's "The Bagman Cometh: Obama Embraces War Criminal's Endorsement" http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1632-the-bagman-cometh-obama-embraces-war-criminals-endorsement.html:
"Powell coulda been a contender
'In fact, it is not too much of a stretch to say that Colin Powell is more responsible for the mass murder spree in Iraq than any other person except George W. Bush, who gave the actual order for the hit. For it was Powell who "made the sale" for the Bush Faction's deceitful warmongering campaign, with his infamous February 2003 presentation to the UN, laying out the false evidence about Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction.'
"I have always thought Powell one of only two people on earth who could have halted the juggernaut heading toward Iraq in 2002. The other? That fellow courtier Tony Blair. The US had Scheuer and Ritter and Brady Kiesling among others trying to tell people what was really happening, to no avail. No oxygen could be spared for the truth in the home of the brave. The UK had Kathleen Gun and a few others also doing their best to stop what they knew was a war based on what George Galloway called 'a pack of lies' - to no avail. We in Australia had intel officer Andrew Wilkie cop the traitor treatment from all those righteous patriots you never see around the blogs any more, for simply telling it like it was. To no avail.
"Nelson Mandela had no effect. Gandhi himself could have made a comeback and he too would have been sent to Coventry for standing in the way. The French were ridiculed by ridiculous people for daring to disagree. You get the feeling Mary mother of God would have copped it too, had she put her 2c worth in.
"No, the only two people well placed and powerful enough to have had a decisive effect on the elites required to get Bushco across that line were Mssrs Blair and Powell. They were handed, on a silver ewer, the opportunity to stamp their names on history in gold leaf. They could have OWNED the last 7 years or so had they taken that path, the one that did not involve pats on the head from GWB and holidays with Silvio Berlusconi, lucrative sinecures for life and puff pieces in the same outlets that carried their lies and evasions into millions of living rooms to smooth the path to war. An illegal war, which never bothered them of course, but also a disastrous one, which does bother them, a bit. Not because of the disaster it has been to those at the sharp end, but the disaster it has been to their CVs.
"They were in the right place at the right time to make their mark on the world, in such a way no one could ever forget them. They were tested, and they were found wanting. They will be remembered all right, for all the wrong reasons. Which is why we see this nod to Obama - it's like Blair's swanning ineffectually around the Middle East, getting in the way - an attempt to buff the record a tad.
"They are two of the best turd polishers in recent history, but a polished turd still stinks to high heaven."
Juan Cole, today, takes the more charitable view that this is "Powell's Finest Moment," that is he has begun to rehabilitate himself (today's headline at http://www.juancole.com/).
Mmmm, punch.
"Powell coulda been a contender
'In fact, it is not too much of a stretch to say that Colin Powell is more responsible for the mass murder spree in Iraq than any other person except George W. Bush, who gave the actual order for the hit. For it was Powell who "made the sale" for the Bush Faction's deceitful warmongering campaign, with his infamous February 2003 presentation to the UN, laying out the false evidence about Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction.'
"I have always thought Powell one of only two people on earth who could have halted the juggernaut heading toward Iraq in 2002. The other? That fellow courtier Tony Blair. The US had Scheuer and Ritter and Brady Kiesling among others trying to tell people what was really happening, to no avail. No oxygen could be spared for the truth in the home of the brave. The UK had Kathleen Gun and a few others also doing their best to stop what they knew was a war based on what George Galloway called 'a pack of lies' - to no avail. We in Australia had intel officer Andrew Wilkie cop the traitor treatment from all those righteous patriots you never see around the blogs any more, for simply telling it like it was. To no avail.
"Nelson Mandela had no effect. Gandhi himself could have made a comeback and he too would have been sent to Coventry for standing in the way. The French were ridiculed by ridiculous people for daring to disagree. You get the feeling Mary mother of God would have copped it too, had she put her 2c worth in.
"No, the only two people well placed and powerful enough to have had a decisive effect on the elites required to get Bushco across that line were Mssrs Blair and Powell. They were handed, on a silver ewer, the opportunity to stamp their names on history in gold leaf. They could have OWNED the last 7 years or so had they taken that path, the one that did not involve pats on the head from GWB and holidays with Silvio Berlusconi, lucrative sinecures for life and puff pieces in the same outlets that carried their lies and evasions into millions of living rooms to smooth the path to war. An illegal war, which never bothered them of course, but also a disastrous one, which does bother them, a bit. Not because of the disaster it has been to those at the sharp end, but the disaster it has been to their CVs.
"They were in the right place at the right time to make their mark on the world, in such a way no one could ever forget them. They were tested, and they were found wanting. They will be remembered all right, for all the wrong reasons. Which is why we see this nod to Obama - it's like Blair's swanning ineffectually around the Middle East, getting in the way - an attempt to buff the record a tad.
"They are two of the best turd polishers in recent history, but a polished turd still stinks to high heaven."
Juan Cole, today, takes the more charitable view that this is "Powell's Finest Moment," that is he has begun to rehabilitate himself (today's headline at http://www.juancole.com/).
Mmmm, punch.