Posted on 08/29/2011 2:05:59 AM PDT by personalaccts
Powell Says Cheney Book Full of 'Cheap Shots' By Yochi J. Dreazen
Updated: August 28, 2011 | 12:13 p.m. August 28, 2011 | 12:10 p.m.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is lashing out at former Vice President Dick Cheney. A visibly angry Colin Powell used an appearance on CBSs Face the Nation on Sunday to blast former Vice President Dick Cheney for using cheap shots and barbs to drive up sales of his new memoir, which accuses Powell of trying to undermine President Bush during the run-up to the Iraq War and tacitly allowing his deputy to leak the name of a covert CIA agent.
Powell, who had a rocky tenure as Bushs first secretary of State, said that the allegations in Cheneys book were better suited to "supermarket tabloids" than the memoir of a former vice president of the United States. He said Cheney was using misleading anecdotes and unfounded personal attacks to pump up sales of the memoir, In My Time, which will be officially released on Tuesday. Multiple media outlets have published excerpts from the book in recent days.
They are cheap shots, Powell told CBS Bob Schieffer. Its not necessary to take these kinds of barbs.
The new war of words between Cheney and Powell underscores the degree to which members of the Bush administration continue to publicly relitigate decisions taken years earlier. The two men have had a rocky relationship for decades. During the first Gulf War, then-Defense Secretary Cheney told colleagues that he felt then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Powell was intentionally upstaging him at press conferences and other public events. Those tensions carried over into their shared time in the Bush administration, where Powell and Cheney were on opposite sides of multiple debates, most notably over the Iraq War.
Cheneys new book has harsh words for a number of his one-time colleagues, from former CIA Director George Tenet to Powells successor at the State Department, Condoleezza Rice -- whom he describes as tearfully admitting she had been wrong to urge Bush to apologize for wrongly alleging that Iraq had tried to obtain yellowcake uranium in Niger.
But the pugnacious former vice president reserves his toughest language for Powell. Cheney accuses Powell of effectively going behind Bushs back by criticizing administration policy to people outside the government and says the former secretary of State stood by silently as his former deputy, Richard Armitage, leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to conservative columnist Robert Novak. Novaks subsequent column naming Plame triggered a public relations scandal and criminal probe which ultimately led to the conviction of Cheneys former chief of staff, Scooter Libby.
In the book, Cheney writes that he tried to persuade Bush to fire Powell and says that Powells later resignation was for the best.
On CBS Sunday, Powell said Cheneys assertion that he had privately expressed opposition to the Iraq War was nonsense, noting that he was the one who famously told Bush that if you break it, you own it. Powell pointed out that he had been the one to make a high-profile appearance before the United Nations Security Council to lay out what proved to be wholly unsubstantiated claims about Iraqs weapons of mass destruction. And Powell on Sunday blasted Cheney for failing to properly prepare for the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which was marred by widespread looting and violence.
Mr. Cheney and many of his colleagues did not prepare for what happened after the fall of Baghdad, Powell said.
Powell said Cheneys comments about Rice were condescending and said it was inappropriate for the former vice president to describe a high-ranking female official as crying.
I think its a bit too far, Powell said. I think Dick overshot the runway with that kind of comment.
Cheney had earlier told ABC as part of a pre-publication media blitz for his book that the memoir -- particularly in its comments about officials such as Powell and Rice -- would have heads exploding all over Washington. Powell dismissed those remarks sarcastically on the CBS show.
I dont see any heads lying on the streets, he said.
LOL!!! Sounds like an EMPTY UNIFORM!!
It seems that Powell is not denying that it isn’t true. He is just calling it a Cheney “cheap shot” for saying it. This is a typical liberal position: criticizing people for telling the truth.
Did the Opportunist who took every Republican promotion he could to create his career but who ended up supporting Obammie the Commie in 2008 say anything when some leftists wrote a play pivoting on the very serious and artistic discussion of how to assassinate Pres. Bush?
Powell was the greatest advocate of not taking out saddam hussein when they were just outside of Baghdad during the first Iraq war. He has blood on his hands for being the driving force compelling us to GO BACK AND FINISH THE JOB in 2011-today.
G. Bush senior wasn't so keen on that call, either. RINOs are fairly worthless when it comes to meaningful foreign policy.
How....exactly....does one "take a barb"???
I've heard of "take a powder", "take a crap", "take a pi$$", "take a course", "take a punch", "take a hike", "take a break", "take a left (or right)", and "take a header"....but never heard of "take a barb".
Must be one o' them liberal expressions....
My former respect for Powell was reduced to contempt when I first saw that picture of supposedly statesman-like military man hip-hopping his support for Obammie the Commie.
I know that this is to sound inflammatory but it was more of a color issue than an ideological issue in why PowellRINO campaigned and backed the AnointedIdiot. I would go further and suggest that many blacks will continue to side and vote for the AnointedIdiot because of color than because he has done anything for them since he has been in office. Flame away. =.=
The Secretary of State Who Didn't Like To Travel!It was thanks to Colin that our 4th Infantry Division floated at sea for about a month, all thanks to COLIN BOWEL screwing up things, aka: Diplomacy, with Turkey.
Ya'll recall that the 4th ID was supposed to Invade Iraq from the North from Turkey while the 3rd ID came up from the South and meet up in Baghdad, right? But that never happened did it? NO! The 4th ID had to follow - eventually - the 3rd ID from the South and THAT left Saddam's Loyalists and their little Triangle of Death!
And all Colin had to do avoid that was get on a friggen plane and talk Turkey with the Turks in PERSON. But noooooo, he 'didn't like to travel', and wanted to talk diplomacy by telephone. Which INSULTED the Turks!
So how many US Military MEN were lost in that Triangle Of Death? Huh Colin, got any guesses on that?
Hope you can sleep good at night, ya jerkweed!
Powell is guilty of the biggest “cheap shot” of them all: going against America in favor of skin color when he endorsed 0bama in 2008, knowing full well he was grossly unfit to lead this nation.
In other words, they were true. Colin Powell is the quintessential example of a RINO; his is one case where the term is wholly warranted.
Powell was always over rated. It happens when race is the first criteria.
Okay Powell we get it. Is that your only "profound" statement claim to fame? Can you come up with another one so we can continue to relish how wise you are?
Powell tried to talk him out of it.
George Bush was a lousy President, Colin Powell was a lousy Secretary of State, and George Tenet was a failure as head of the CIA. Cheney may not be the world’s sweetheart — he certainly never celebrated human weakness as a virtue and was particularly mute concerning ‘compassionate conservatism’ — but by God he had both convictions and a political philosophy that served him well in his walk through life.
The shots may be cheap, but are they true?
Cheney has Colon’s Bowel in an uproar.
Who knows? I love Cheney. I hope they’re true. I read Maureen Dowd’s scathing review of it yesterday — something with “Darth Vader Returns” in the title. That’s all I know about it. Took a definite BOTTOM UP approach on that one.
I submit to you that if that had been the case, we would not have had 9/11, the debacle in Iraq or be bogged down in Afghanistan as we curretnly are. And oil prices would be reasonable and stable as well as the majority of the arab world. And oh yeah, before I forget, Iran wouldn't have the resources or capacity to threaten the region as it would be busy defending itself from Iraq.
They are cheap shots, Powell told CBS Bob Schieffer. Its not necessary to take these kinds of barbs.
Norman Schwarzkopf was a true general and leader...not the PC Powell.
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