Ex-Aide: Powell Misled Americans

CBS News ^ | 10/13/03

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Greg Thielmann tells Correspondent Scott Pelley that at the time of Powell’s speech, Iraq didn’t pose an imminent threat to anyone – not even its own neighbors. “…I think my conclusion [about Powell’s speech] now is that it’s probably one of the low points in his long distinguished service to the nation,” says Thielmann.

He was out of the country during Gulf War 1??

[zook]

...this WMD angle has been a disaster that has undermined this Administration's case for war.

To the extent there's been any hint of "disaster," it's been brought about by knuckle dragging neanderthals who believe it's important to destroy George Bush. President Bush made a strong case for war based not only on WMD, but also on the need to remove a monster from power and to restore rational humane government to Iraq. This case remains strong today.

[rwfok]

From a Frank Gaffney column dated August 12, 2003:

Two INR officials, recent retiree Greg Thielmann and his former subordinate Christian Westermann, have been among the few intelligence officials publicly to attack the integrity of the Bush Administration's case for war with Iraq. The former reportedly fared poorly when given an opportunity to support his charges recently before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Senate staffers have described Westermann's charges of politicization of intelligence to be "laughable."

[JohnGalt]

Ideological bone to pick?

You're either with us, or against us.

LOL

[areafiftyone]

Thank you for the info. The Democrats are sickening!

[JohnGalt]

Your contradictory posts captures the essence of my point.

Thank you.

[JohnGalt]

I don't like RINOs like Powell and Rice, do you?

[oldironsides]

Note that this fellow is an ex aide. He seems to have shut his pie hole when Powell was addressing the United Nations. He shut up for all this time? Why now? He is part of the left that George W. Bush allowed to remain in place. This administration should never have kept these
people on board.

[finnman69]

I don't like RINOs like Powell and Rice, do you?

LOL, Powell and Rice are RINOs now? LOL. You are clearly living in an alternate universe. But seriously, you take the word of socialist traitors like Ritter and Thielman as gospel. Nice company you keep.

[tx_eggman]

Judging by the old saying, "What you don't know can't hurt you," you're looking practically invulnerable to me.

[SpinyNorman]

I invite you to look at the following recent article by Krauthammer: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/charleskrauthammer/ck20031010.shtml

In this, you will find that it was not necessary, and indeed, stupid, to try to stockpile WMDs, particularly the biotoxins, which have a limited shelf life. Having the components on hand to initiate rapid development of the WMDs as necessary is quite ingenious, and being able to hide them within dual use facilities such as fertilizer factories effectively hides them from the UN or American inspectors.

Given this development, and discoveries to come from Kay, I think they have nothing to apologize for, much less resign for.

[JohnGalt]

Powell and Rice are socialists as far as I know, but agreed they are not traitors, just over their heads.

Kay did not find any WMDs which demonstrates that Powell and Rice were not competent enough to read pre-war intelligence reports. There would not even be a WMD issue if it hadn't been for those two.

[Lost Highway]

Why don't you take it somewhere else? Nobody here is going to buy the theory that just because they had all of the pieces ready to assemble on a minutes notice but had not actually mixed them together in a huge barrel and stamped it WMD means Bush lied.

[JohnGalt]

I was glad that Krauthammer finally came around to the fact that there were no WMDs. That is why Powell and Rice must resign; where is the disconnect?

[hchutch]

The paleo-cons and the antiwar Left will keep moving the goal posts. If we do wind WMD, there will be the claim that Saddam did not actually USE them.

I have had my disagreements with Secretary Powell, particularly over the decision to deignate the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia as a terrorist organization on par with al-Qaeda and FARC. I think that Carlos Castano is an ally who could potentially be very valuable, as his work with Los Pepes (The People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar) demonstrated.

That said, Secretary of State Colin Powell is an honest man, and this hit piece by CBS is nothing more than a smear aimed at an honorable man. I'm disgusted at this smear and those who support it.

[JohnGalt]

I never said Bush lied; I said Powell and Rice failed to perform their jobs at a minimum competency level.

[carton253]

John, what is it about Powell and Rice that have your bowels in an uproar?

[tbpiper]

to stop Iraq """"BEFORE"""" the threat was imminent

It depends of what the meaning of 'before' is.

If you're Jay Rockefeller, 'before' means 'imminent' if you need it to for political reasons.

[Lost Highway]

The fact that Saddam may have decided to go from building up stocks to maintaining clandestine production facilities (may have: remember, Kay still has 120 depots to go through) does not mean that he got out of the WMD business. Otherwise, by that logic, one would have to say that until the very moment at which the plutonium from its 8,000 processed fuel rods are wedded to waiting nuclear devices, North Korea does not have a nuclear program. -- Charles Krauthammer

Get it?

[Grampa Dave]

Steve posted: "Powell is just the latest to feel the bite of the careerist snakes who fill State and so many other departments. Relocate the Department to Minot, see how many of these Ivy Leaguers stick around."

When we started having all of the problems with the career rat snakes in State, a female relative said that GW would solve the problem overnight if he moved State to his ranch in Texas.

Both of you are right.

I would like to see all of the State SOBs sent to Baghdad and see how they feel about the non dangers after a week or so.