I had thought that Colin Powell was one of the more honest and reputable members of the Bush Cabinet until he gave the dreadful WMD presentation to the UN Security Council in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. You might recall the satellite photos of ‘mobile weapons labs’ etc etc. As I recall the presentation followed Tony Blair’s release of the notorious ‘sexed-up’ intelligence dossier.
Now, Colin Powell has gone public with a ‘Colin Powell regrets’ interview with American ABC TV news to be broadcast on Friday US time. He says he spent five days at the CIA headquarters ahead of the speech studying intelligence reports, many of which turned out to be false, and admits the speech is “a blot” on his record.
More below fold…
This report comes from Australia’s ABC:
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell says his United Nations speech making the case for the US-led war on Iraq was “a blot” on his record.
Mr Powell has also said that he had “never seen evidence to suggest” a connection between the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States and the Saddam regime.
In the February 2003 presentation to the UN Security Council, Mr Powell forcefully made the case for war on the regime of Saddam Hussein, offering “proof” that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The presentation included satellite photos of trucks that Mr Powell identified as mobile bioweapons laboratories.
After the invasion, US weapons inspectors reported finding no Iraqi nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.
In an interview with American ABC TV news to be broadcast on Friday (US time), Mr Powell said “it’s a blot” on his record.
“I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now,” he said.
Mr Powell spent five days at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters ahead of the speech studying intelligence reports, many of which turned out to be false.
He said he felt “terrible” at being misinformed.
However, he did not blame CIA director George Tenet.
Mr Tenet “did not sit there for five days with me misleading me,” he said.
“He believed what he was giving to me was accurate.”
Some members of the US intelligence community “knew at that time that some of these sources were not good, and shouldn’t be relied upon, and they didn’t speak up,” Mr Powell said.
“These are not senior people, but these are people who were aware that some of these resources should not be considered reliable,” he said.
“I was enormously disappointed.”
Just goes to show the truth usually outs… But does this restore his credibility?
[Cross-posted at European Tribune.]