Did Colin Powell agree with the Bush-think about Iraq?

I felt the same way. But that still doesn’t excuse him from his actions. He lost my respect on February 5, 2003 and nothing he can ever do will help fix that.

In any conflict, your fate will depend on your action. Do not destroy oil wells, a source of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people. Do not obey any command to use weapons of mass destruction against anyone, including the Iraqi people. War crimes will be prosecuted. War criminals will be punished. And it will be no defense to say, “I was just following orders.”

George Bush speaking directly to the Iraqi people during a national address, 2003–03-17

Until he saw through the YADA YADA YADA, I think he (sincerely) did.

In his endorsement statement of Obama on Meet the Press it sounded like he would not have changed what he had done based on the intelligence that was available to him at the time. He also said that we would not have gone into Iraq if we had known that they didn’t have the weapons of mass destruction we used as justification for the war.

He sold the UN Security Council on the war in Iraq.

Him and the little diagrams of “mobile chemical and biological weapons factories” that never existed.

If he was just “being the good soldier,” then he’s a coward as well as liar.

I wish I could find the Reuters news item from back in 2003 regarding Powell’s then upcoming trip to the UN and the evidence used during his speech. It was a video report, the gist of which was that the United States was basing its case on British evidence which was at least a decade old. I had respect for Powell, and still have some, but my respect was certainly tainted after his presentation.

I hold him accountable for presenting what he did. If he had doubts he should have expressed them. He lent his considerable credibility, his own reputation.

I have never felt the same about him and never will.