Certainly, he will be called a traitor to Bush. At least, that’s how I see the headlines being spun by the right blogosphere regarding this latest revelation from Mr. Powell that he didn’t resign as Secretary of State, he was fired by Our Dear Leader.
But I think the case can be made that Mr. Powell’s betrayal extends far beyond the bounds of what, if anything, he owed the Royal Bush family. Follow me below the fold as I make the argument that Powell has betrayed us all.
(Cont.)
Powell: Good Soldier/Misguided Loyalist …
ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004, eight days after the president he served was elected to a second term, Secretary of State Colin Powell received a telephone call from the White House at his State Department office. The caller was not President Bush but Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and he got right to the point.
“The president would like to make a change,” Card said, using a time-honored formulation that avoided the words “resign” or “fire.” He noted briskly that there had been some discussion of having Powell remain until after Iraqi elections scheduled for the end of January, but that the president had decided to take care of all Cabinet changes sooner rather than later. Bush wanted Powell’s resignation letter dated two days hence, on Friday, November 12, Card said, although the White House expected him to stay at the State Department until his successor was confirmed by the Senate.
I wonder, if like Larry Johnson, Mr. Powell no longer considers himself a Republican. It’s clear he finally decided, in light of the passage of the Shred the Constitution and Proclaim George Bush King Military Commissions Act, one which he ardently opposed in his testimony in the Senate (for which he was used once again by Bush and McCain) that the time for fealty to Bush the Younger was over.
Too bad he waited so long. This might have done some good back in 2004 when it mattered.
… or Powell, Dishonorable Coward and Traitor?
Some consider Mr. Powell the epitome of a Good Soldier, a man loyal to his commanders even when they were not loyal to him. A man who refused to speak out against his President because he felt honor bound to remain loyal despite all the insults, humiliations and indignity heaped upon him by the President and the Cheney/Rumsfeld Cabal.
Let me just say that I consider Mr Powell to be the worst sort of soldier. He put his duty to his commander above his duty to his country. When he learned that he had been sold a pack of lies to present to the UN in order to convince the American public of the necessity for invading Iraq, he should have quit and given his reasons then and there. Why? Because no one swears an outh to the President. But soldiers, and yes, the Secretary of State, do swear an oath to defend the Constitution:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
Colin Powell failed to do his duty. As Secretary of State, as a soldier, and as a man. Unlike former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who told the truth about Bush’s lies and machinations once he resigned, Powell remained silent.
He said nothing publicly against the Bush adminsitration, either because he didn’t want his reputation sullied among his Beltway friends or because he was afraid what being smeared by the White House would do to his lecture fee income. Either way, he has acted dishonorably in my view.
By not speaking out against this rogue President and his administration, by not resigning in protest once it became apparent he had been duped about Iraq’s WMD, by not pulling the wool away from the eyes of a misled and lied to American citizenry who were railroaded into supporting a criminal war of aggression, he committed his greatest offense. Whether out of misguided sense of loyalty or from cowardice, Mr. Powell has dishonored himself personally and professionally, and betrayed his oath to defend the Constitution.
In years to come, no one should remember Mr. Powell as the faithful, loyal soldier, which is the image he has always tried to portray to the media. He should be remembered, instead, as a man who failed to live up to his oath of office. A man who put loyalty to his boss over loyalty to his country. A man who betrayed us all in order to serve an incompetent, ruthless and power-mad President.
In short, he should be remembered as a traitor to the United States of America. He sold us out so that he could pretend to be a man of honor. And in the years to come, we will all pay the price for his dereliction of duty.
