Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tiger Beer]

[Gopher]

[Adventurer]

I believe Colin Powell has generally had good motives throughout his career, and saying he wants to be in government simply because of what happened in Iraq, so that he can redeem himself is somewhat far-fetched. He has served in several administrations already and helped a Democratic one before as far as I can recall. Of course, on a persona level, he probably feels he was let down by the last administration, and that would be normal for anyone who was in that position, but he believes in service to his country, and that's why he joined the last administration.
It doesn't mean he doesn't enjoy politics, he does. There is more to Colin Powell then some person put in some narrow box.

[Kuros]

[Gopher]

Somewhere in there lies a question, I am sure. But all I see at the moment is a rant.

[The Bobster]

I think Kuros wants to know why you think he should be back at the State Department. Personally, I always thought it was the wrong place for a retired general.

The Powell Doctrine was repudiated by Rumsfeld and the other neocons, and I think that was ultimately what impelled CP to resign. Events have shown in the interim that the sort of wars he favored (quick, clean, overwhelming military force with no intention of staying on to occupy or exert "influence" - are the best way to use American military might. In short, surge or no surge, America would have been better off without Iraq ever happening.

Shall we ever forgive him for the sad performance with the aluminum tubes at the UN? It was a speech that could have been handed off to an underling in State or the UN Ambassador or someone else ... he was used, his credibility and prestige was employed as a tool by the Bushies, and the case to be made was so lame that no one was convinced anyway. I remember squirming in my seat when I watched the video footage. That all you got? Aluminum freaking tubes? We're gong to war over that?

And it didn't matter, because Bush was bound and determined to invade Baghdad for any reason at all.

Powell was a soldier, and I suspect he carries that with him, and it's the only way I can explain why he stayed in the Bush administration as long as he did when it must have been clear that his former boss's son was intent on rejecting virtually every foreign policy doctrine that had guided the US for the last few decades.

I find his endorsement of Obama credible, and the reasons he gives to be sound. I don't see him as angling for a position in the administration. He is well and truly retired.

Pretty soon, John McCain will be also.

[Gopher]

No, Bobster. And G. Marshall proves your anti-military posture wrong.

"What, exactly, do you think he ought to take State again?" is a question. And "Good God, why?" is the preamble to a rant, and a signal that any answer will be opposed.

I regret that you remain unable to distinguish.

In any case, re: "whether he should": it is not our decision. This is B. Obama and C. Powell's decision, subject, as always, to Senate confirmation, which I imagine would more or less immediately follow with little or no objection.

[Kuros]

[Gopher]

Very well, Kuros: he had the same background and qualifications in statesmanship as did, for example, G. Washington, A. Jackson, U.S. Grant, G. Marshall, and D. Eisenhower.

So not only do you dismiss mayors and governors, but also national security advisers, chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former secretaries of state? You are off on this one. C. Powell is well-qualified to head State.

[Kuros]