So, now Colin Powell gets a backbone

Another voice heard on the civil war over whether to call the chaos in Iraq a civil war: Colin Powell, the secretary of state that helped lead us into this mess.

From Rueters:

DUBAI –Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday Iraq had descended into civil war and urged world leaders to accept that “reality”.

Powell’s remarks came ahead of a meeting between Bush and Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in the Jordanian capital to discuss the security developments in Iraq.

“I would call it a civil war,” Powell told a business forum in the United Arab Emirates. “I have been using it (civil war) because I like to face the reality,” added Powell.

He said world leaders should acknowledge Iraq was in civil war.

So, suddenly Mr. Powell is willing to speak up publicly. He did, according to Bob Woodward, warn the president that taking down Saddam Hussein might plunge Iraq into chaos — remember the “Pottery Barn” rule? — but that was behind the scenes. Publicly, though, he played the role of the good little soldier, making the administration’s anti-Iraq case before the United Nations, and he deserves whatever opprobrium has been and will continue to be heaped upon him.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet