Remember that Powell quote..? About two weeks before he resigned/was fired..? Probably just a coincidence.

Colin Powell speaks Yiddish, apparently. An interesting factoid.

He was a Good Soldier(tm)... Anyone recall Powell's peripheral role in the My Lai cover-up? "He deserted the people he was trying to protect"?

Dig a little bit deeper next time. COUGHhousenegro.

The aptly named Colon, er, Colin was the Army press officer in charge of covering up the the My Lai massacre. Enough with the hagiography. He was -and is- a skank who should be on trial for his war crimes, past and present. There is nothing "good" about him.

People are pissed off with Powell and rightly so. But what they do in blaming him for gutlessness above and beyond the call of duty is to foolishly equate physical courage with moral courage. Loads of German, Japanese, and Soviet officers had tons of courage. The number who had moral courage you could fit in a thimble. Ditto the "boys" of RAF Bomber Command, or of the 20th Air Force that firebombed Japanese civilians. The plain fact is that moral courage is much more rare than physical courage, and not nearly as respected (and certainly not as well rewarded). America can always find people who will risk life and limb in hell-holes like Iraq. What we aren't finding are people who will stand up and say "no" to the bullies, killers, and flag-waving buffoons who dominate American public life and governmental power.

Colin Powell aided and abetted the massacre of...well, we're still counting, aren't we. It is incredible how much it matters that the actor playing Colin Powell is a likeable favorite of the folks at home. Like Jimmy Stewart or the elder Sean Connery, one of those guys people just can't help liking. So everyone talks about what a tragedy it is that he's ending his career outside the privileged circle of power he was so long on the inside of, but it's a load of crap. A man who will get up in front of the country and lie to start a murderous war is himself a murderer. Not a soldier good, bad or indifferent. A murderer.

I'm sorry but Powell missed the boat. A good soldier should follow through but as Secretary of State, well that is another story.

Powell's credibility as a good soldier holds about as much weight as John McCain, the same McCain who caved into the recent debate and passage of laws further undermining our Constitution, little to none.

The President is sworn to uphold the constitution, and likewise his underlings, cronies and other types I would now refer to as future defendants should likewise.

Powell in whatever his need for approval, or being taken seriously, insert pathology here; not only let the American people down but more importantly and closer to home allowed a war, an illegal war at that to drag our servicemen and women into a trap that has them dying day after day after day. Days without proper equipment and support while the likes of Halliburton and other contractors make money hand over fist and while he might try to resurrect his reputation best as he can, well I for one think he successfully "Swiftboated" himself and for all to see.

His day is done, his reputation in ruin; he should retire, exit stage left and no longer disgrace himself or our country.

HELL NO WE WON'T GO!

Dickless Cheney with more profitble adventures than to defend LIBERTY, JUSTICE or FREEDOM!

HELL NO I WON'T GO!

GEORGE WALKER BUSH snorting his way to Burmingham as Colin Powell defended the LIFE, LIBERTY and FREEDOM of his EMPEROR to be.

NOT ONE of those CHICKEN FECES Appiontees of the 'APPOINTED' put his life, liberty or freedom on the line or in the line of fire. Yet each and every one of them hung onto those Medals of BRAVERY, HONOR and INTEGRITY that COLIN POWELL brought with him to Washington.

Was this U.N. Aventure merely to cover the COWARDICE of those FOOLS in Charge or another unjust betrayal from KING GEORGE?

It ain't ambition and it ain't loyalty.

In government it's all about the three P's: Power, Paycheck and Pension.

The one P that Powell definitely lacks is PRESCIENCE.

Cheers

Powell a "decent human being" whose biggest concern was "protecting soldiers"? Sometimes I have to wonder what planet most Americans are living on. This is made-for-TV reality. Powell cared about winning wars, and that always means killing lots of people.

These days, one has to minimize American casualties because of the "Vietnam Syndrome." Powell should know about that since he launched his career by whitewashing My Lai, as others have posted. Anyway, what he didn't care for was Cheney's obvious incompetence, stupidity and overreaching, the loss of European and international good will, his humiliating marginalization in policy making, and his own reputation. I doubt he gives much thought to 3,000 dead Americans, even less to half a million dead Iraqis.

I don't know how to break this to everyone, but Colin Powell has always been part of the problem, and never part of the solution. Not unlike George Bush he was a C average student. He excelled in ROTC loved to do the rifle twirling crap. Neidermeyer.

He was also on of the early "advisors" in Viet Nam. Know that the term advisors is newspeak for military people who train local people to either overthrow a democratically elected government, or to defend a dictator/colonialist/imperialist.

He was asked at one point to investigate a letter written by a soldier ending his tour, addressed to the commander of all American forces in Vietnam. The letter spelled out the racism, the scorched earth policy of burning villages, the brutality against civilians, the allegation of a massacre of civilians (My Lai.) Colin whitewashed it. Instead of investigating the allegations of the letter, Maj. Powell concluded that the problems were not systemic and were limited and the result of a few bad apples (sound like Abu Graib?.) This was his real defining moment as an American and a soldier in America's army. He failed miserably. It is easy to stand up with all of America behind you as Powell did at the U.N. It is difficult to stand up for what is right when it will cost you your job, rank, pay grade, or even your life. Powell very early on, shows himself to be a company man and not of any particularly exemplary moral code.

So why does the American public give this man such latitude? I guess in a room full of hawks, the slightly less hawkish is the go to guy for reason? The voice of reason on the march to war is supposed to come from a career military man? Can't we see how ridiculous this formula is?

I think we are willing to elevate Mr. Powell's stature and our expectations of him because we are racist. He rose from humble beginnings in the Bronx to a respected position in government and the rank of General. He is self effacing, introspective, thoughtful, and articulate black man. These are the polar opposites of our inner view of the black man. He stands as an example of whom we would like "the black man" to be, and in particular how we would like the black man to "behave." All the while, this man of limited courage and diminished moral character is elevated to the status of world statesman. Unfortunately we never saw Colin for what he really is...a middling company man who serves his master in spite of the constitution and in spite of the American people. When the time came to make a stand for what is right, Colin failed us because he was destined to fail us. It is who he is. It is our own irrationality that expects a different person to emerge.