http://www.disinfo.com/pages/dossier/id803/pg1/
colin powell: don't ask about my lai, don't tell about iran-contra
by Russ Kick ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) - January 28, 2001
As expected, Colin Powell breezed through his confirmation hearing and is now
the Secretary of State. (I always have to catch myself, because I want to
refer to him as Secretary of Defense, which would make more sense. Just why a
four-star general "war hero" would be made the head of foreign affairs rather
than defense matters isn't clear. You'd think Powell would be more
comfortable with Scud missiles than Bolivian table etiquette.)
Powell's approval rating with the public is sky-high, and his appointment was
never in doubt for even a nanosecond. He has charisma and a calm,
nonthreatening air of confidence. He's considered a war hero for his command
of US troops during the Gulf War. And, yes, he's an African American born of
Jamaican immigrants, which allows the Bush Administration to seem racially
enlightened while the public pats itself on the back for having a black man
in a position of power. Challenging him would've been political suicide.
Yet behind this warm, cuddly, self-assured image is a mountain of dirt that
the mainstream media refused to mention as they tripped over themselves to
kiss Powell's brass. The problems with Powell are numerous and could probably
fill a book-length expose. In the interest of time, here's a boiled-down look
at the skeletons in Powell's foot locker.
The My Lai massacre. On March 16, 1968, US soldiers from the Americal
Division slaughtered 347 civilians--primarily old men, women, children, and
babies--in the Vietnamese village of My Lai 4 (pronounced, very
appropriately, as "me lie"). The grunts also engaged in torture and rape of
the villagers.
Around six months later, a soldier in the 11th Light Infantry Brigade--known
among the men as "the Butcher's Brigade"--wrote a letter telling of
widespread killing and torturing of Vietnamese civilians by entire units of
the US military (he did not specifically refer to My Lai). The letter was
sent to the general in charge of 'Nam and trickled down the chain of command
to Major Colin Powell, a deputy assistant chief of staff at the Americal
Division, who was charged with investigating the matter and formulating a
response.
After a desultory check--which consisted mainly of investigating the soldier
who wrote the letter, rather than his allegations--Powell reported that
everything was hunkey-dory. There may be some "isolated incidents" by
individual bad seeds, but there were no widespread atrocities. He wrote: "In
direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between
Americal soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." The matter was
closed.
To this day, we might not know about the carnage at My Lai if it hadn't been
for another solider who later wisely sent a letter to his Congressman.
(Twenty-five years later Powell gave an interview in which he not only failed
to condemn the massacre but seemed to excuse it.)
Killing Civilians. Powell still has no compunction about killing civilians
during war. The lefty media watchdog FAIR points out that in his 1995
autobiography, My American Journey: An Autobiography (New York: Random House,
1995), Powell wrote: "If a helo [helicopter] spotted a peasant in black
pajamas who looked remotely suspicious, a possible MAM [military-aged male],
the pilot would circle and fire in front of him. If he moved, his movement
was judged evidence of hostile intent, and the next burst was not in front,
but at him. Brutal? Maybe so. But an able battalion commander with whom I had
served at Gelnhausen, Lt. Col. Walter Pritchard, was killed by enemy sniper
fire while observing MAMs from a helicopter. And Pritchard was only one of
many. The kill-or-be-killed nature of combat tends to dull fine perceptions
of right and wrong." In his memoirs, Powell also defends the torching of
civilians' huts, a tactic his unit constantly employed in Vietnam.
Iran-Contra. While Powell was deputy security adviser to Ronald Reagan's
Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, he learned of the illegal deal to
supply arms to Iran in return for cash and the release of American hostages
in Lebanon. He told Weinberger and, though they supposedly didn't like it,
they went along with the deal. In violation of Pentagon procedure, Powell
secretly transferred missiles from the Army to the CIA.
When questioned during the Iran-Contra hearings, Powell grudgingly gave
testimony that has been described as contradictory, "limited," and
"misleading." At one point in a sworn deposition he said that Weinberger did
not keep a diary, but in a sworn affidavit five years later Powell said that
his boss had indeed kept a diary at the time.
Powell later convinced Bush to pardon Weinberger, thus avoiding a trial that
probably would've implicated the general.
On a related note, Powell was and is an unabashed supporter of the Nicaraguan
contras. As FAIR notes: "Despite the contras' record of human rights
atrocities and the condemnation of the World Court, Powell defends his
hardline pro-contra actions to this day . . ."
Panama. It was Powell who pushed Bush into invading Panama to capture Manuel
Noriega, a move that violated international law. Indiscriminately using force
in civilian areas, the effort to arrest Noriega resulted in the deaths of
many civilians. The US government admits to hundreds of dead innocents, and
various observers and human rights groups say the true total is in the
thousands.
The Gulf War. Powell seems to have achieved the worst of both worlds during
Operation Desert Storm. He adamantly opposed US involvement in the
Iraq/Kuwait shitstorm, but President Bush wanted it. Kowtowing to his
superiors, as always, Powell led the way in torpedoing a Soviet deal that
would have avoided the war. Once the ground assault started, though, he
almost immediately tried to limit the combat. The New Republic notes: "After
only four days of fighting, and although American units had yet to encircle
Iraqi forces, Powell convinced President Bush to halt ground operations. 'The
vaunted Republican Guard formations are no longer,' the general announced.
But he was wrong. Their escape routes clear, three largely intact Republican
Guard infantry divisions simply packed up and went back to Iraq--where Guard
units promptly began massacring the civilians the United States had
encouraged to revolt." Powell played a key role in convincing Bush not to
press into Iraq and dethrone Saddam.
Despite his rather inept handling of the situation, Powell became a war hero
for presiding over a lopsided slaughter--which included burying Iraqis alive
and massacring them as they retreated--that left around 200,000 Iraqis dead
(including tens of thousands of civilians), compared to 147 Americans killed
by the enemy (with an additional 207 killed by accidents or "friendly fire").
Furthermore, Powell targeted for destruction Iraq's water systems, power
supplies, civilian factories, and other non-military targets, actions which
are war crimes.
Gulf War Syndrome. Powell has completely turned his back on sick Gulf War
vets. Whether or not Gulf War Syndrome exists isn't the question here. The
fact is that tens of thousands of former and current members of the military
are complaining of a similar cluster of strange symptoms, and Powell has done
nothing to help them. In an interview with legendary investigative journalist
Seymour Hersh, Powell pathetically tried to wash his hands of the situation.
"Powell told me that he agrees that the United States has an obligation to
take care of its ailing veterans, no matter what the cause of their illness,
but added that his responsibilities ended upon his retirement from the Army
in the fall of 1993. 'If there are still some veterans who say I should have
done more or said more,' Powell said, 'my answer is, I wasn't in the
government.'" (Against All Enemies: Gulf War Syndrome : The War Between
America's Ailing Veterans and Their Government, New York: Ballantine Books,
1998: 9).
Further Problems:.
1) Powell was decorated for his role in planning Operation Vernon Lake in
Vietnam. According to the military's own records, 104 innocent civilians were
killed because of this action. (And remember that the Pentagon is notorious
for low-balling the number of innocents who get snuffed during war.)
2) Declassified documents implicate Powell in the secret, probably illegal
arming of Iraq in the years before the Gulf War.
3) Although he decried the sanctions against Iraq (which so far have killed
500,000 children under the age of five) in his autobiography, Powell
surprisingly announced his enthusiastic support for the sanctions just as
soon as Dubya tapped him for Secretary of State.
4) Powell's best friend is former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard
Armitage, who has been linked to CIA-backed gun-running and drug-trafficking
in Southeast Asia in the 1970s.
5) A declassified memorandum shows that in 1987 Powell was upset by the
prospect that Ross Perot might secure release of live American POWs from
Vietnam. Instead of being elated by the prospect, he was nervous about the
political and economic ramifications, and said that Perot should not go to
Vietnam to negotiate.
6) According to the Washington Post, Powell's personal worth is at least
$27.3 million, with most of that coming from speaking fees that range from
$59,000 to over $100,000 per engagement. This isn't illegal, and the ethical
implications are a subjective matter, but it is further proof of one fact:
The US is a nation governed by the superwealthy for the superwealthy. Powell
is no exception.
7) Powell owns $13.3 million in AOL stock. His son, Michael Powell, was one
of the five FCC commissioners who approved the colossal AOL/Time-Warner
merger (and he's now Chairman of the FCC). Looks like Michael will be getting
a few extra Christmas presents under the tree this year!
