Since then, everyone from retired general John M. Shalikashvili, who succeeded Powell as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, to former Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander have courageously called for a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” But not General Powell. In that same interview with Rachel Maddow, Powell said that the policy should be reconsidered—and that he would back President Obama were Obama to decide to end it—but in the meantime, he would not commit himself to a position on the policy until he heard the views of current military leaders. He then repeated some of the idiotic arguments that were made in favor of the current policy sixteen years ago:
“The armed force of the United States is not the same as the armed force of one of our European friends or Canadian friends”—where gays have been completely integrated into the armed forces without any of the predicted catastrophes coming to pass.
And then there was this traditional gobbledy gook:
As the courts have held traditionally over the years, and the Congress has as well, the military is a unique institution with rules and regulations and a way of living in close proximity with other soldiers and you’re told whom you’re going to live with that the military can have a set of regulations and rules that would not pass any kind of legal or constitutional muster if it was in civilian society. And so I think because it is the quality of the force and the ability of the force to apply the nation’s power wherever it’s called upon to do so, we have to be careful when we change this policy.
All of which proves once again the enduring truth of Congressman Barney Frank’s assessment: “Colin Powell appears to be a man of enormous physical courage, and no moral courage whatsoever.”
It's about time somebody outed Powell as the coward and mediocrity he always has been. He's one of the schmucks giving politics a bad name. Would be nice if he were to acknowledge--even too late--that he made egregious and deadly bad decisions.
#1 Posted by Rick Whitaker, CJR on Fri 3 Apr 2009 at 05:56 PM
Where is your evidence about several of your assertions prior to the presentation of the interview? I can understand your concern over the interview, itself. But to make assertions with the least amount of substantiation, if any, is not what I would call a contribution to the "truth."
Are there no standards of evidence in the field of Journalism?
#2 Posted by Robert L. Phillips, CJR on Sat 4 Apr 2009 at 01:26 PM
@charles
You're awfully thin on evidence here charles. Colin Powell has spent quite a bit of time serving the USA. If this unilateral wet dream you call an expose is an example of your objectivity, fact finding and discovery then you came up a little short. Don't know if you use Barney Frank as a resource very much, but you might have noticed he's a little short, in the veracity department.
#3 Posted by paul, CJR on Sun 5 Apr 2009 at 08:27 PM
Colin Powell a coward and a failure? The man was decorated with purple heart, bronze star and silver star recipient, a four star general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State. He spent nearly his entire life in public service and oversaw the successful operations in Kuwait and Panama but all because he didn’t denounce the dreaded evil Chimpy Mc Hitler, suddenly he’s a failure.
Now I know that some people might think that writing a cliché ridden coming of age memoir about queer New York is certainly on par with Powell’s lifetime of accomplishments, most people I know still highly respect Powell.
And it was nice to see you quote the “esteemed” Craig Unger. Say, is he still peddling those BS stories about how George HW Bush flew to Paris on a modified SR-71 (they only way the time line could work out) to broker a negotiation with the Iranians and make it back for the RNC convention? How did that little chapter in his “investigative journalistic” career work out for him BTW? I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised to see you use him as an authoritative source.
#4 Posted by Bill Gervas, CJR on Mon 6 Apr 2009 at 01:53 PM
This is so sad. The nice kid from Morris High School in the Bronx was in over his head and came up very short of being the great man we wished him to be. Instead, he is part of the 40 Year Black Hole in American History from 1968 to 2008, when our country went badly astray with no great leaders to stop our decline.
#5 Posted by Joe Sherman, CJR on Mon 6 Apr 2009 at 11:50 PM
@Joe.........Don't get all stormy and despondent on us! We had all of those democratic Icons: LBJ, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton not so many liberal war heros
unless you count GB Trudeau. Of course the elephants had Nixon (bad), Ford(better) and Yes Renaldus Magnus Reagan(a true leader), the bushes(more like rinos) and just about every other soldier that fought in the wars on terror (sorry, man made conflicts).
#6 Posted by paul, CJR on Tue 7 Apr 2009 at 08:53 AM
Ray McGovern outed Powell as a WMD lying collaborator long ago.
#7 Posted by Ken Hoop, CJR on Wed 8 Apr 2009 at 05:16 PM
Why no mention of Colin Powell as the original public leaker of Valerie Plame, Super Secret Agent fraud that convicted an innocent man? He could have put a stop to Fitzgerald's Soviet style show trial of Liddy. Colon Powell is a despicable man.
#8 Posted by WestWright, CJR on Sun 12 Apr 2009 at 12:55 PM