-Caveat Lector- http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak27.html Whither Colin Powell?
January 27, 2003 BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Because Colin Powell has been relied upon to impede the nation's march to war in Iraq, apprehensive Republicans were startled last week by his suddenly bellicose rhetoric. So were investors, and they sent the Dow Jones average into a 238-point swoon Friday. Yet, the secretary of state had not yet joined the war hawks pressing for the military overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Powell, a master at negotiating the national security bureaucracy's dangerous waters over the past generation, knows that now is not the hour to publicly dissent from President Bush's hard line or give Iraq the impression of a divided U.S. government. Beneath the surface, however, Powell remains the voice of restraint against unilateral action. That is one cause of Powell's genuine anger when France joined Germany in counting itself out of an attack on Baghdad. It prevented a solid coalition and also contributed to the contempt by the administration's hawks against alliance warfare, with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sneering that France and Germany are ''old Europe.'' Powell is reported as even more frustrated by the mindless intransigence of the Iraqi regime. Officials in Baghdad who have had indirect, unofficial contact with Powell have begged for some counsel from Washington on how to avert a war they would be doomed to lose. The secretary of state-- also indirectly and unofficially--asked for confessions of weapons violations from the regime. All he got was the ''discovery'' of four empty chemical weapons warheads. Nevertheless, prospects for war are unchanged at this writing: probable but not inevitable. After debate at the White House, it was decided to hold open the president's State of the Union address Tuesday to take note of Monday's report by United Nations weapons inspectors. One senior aide told me the president had not given the go sign for war. Until Powell's warlike comments last Thursday, critics of unilateral action felt the climate was turning against war. These critics are apprehensive about the diplomatic fallout--not the military outcome--of the Anglo-Americans going it alone. Nobody gives credence to Rumsfeld's comments last week that ''a very large number of countries . . . are anxious'' to join a military campaign. On the day of Rumsfeld's comments, signals from Ankara indicated Turkey is not so ''anxious.'' Bulint Arinc, speaker of the Turkish Parliament, declined a luncheon invitation from U.S. Ambassador Robert Pearson. The chairmen of Parliament's foreign affairs and defense committees spurned similar invitations. Disaffection by Iraq's neighbor is more significant than Franco- German opposition. Worried Republicans, while avoiding a split with their president, cannot restrain their concern. In his syndicated column last week, Jack Kemp praised Bush's handling of Iraq and then issued this warning: ''We are so close to victory that it would be a tragedy if a few war hawks pushed us into an unnecessary invasion and occupation of an Arab country.'' The GOP's 1996 vice presidential candidate concluded that ''now is the time to sit down across the table from the Iraqis, eyeball to eyeball, and tell them precisely what they must do to avoid war.'' Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, second-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is in the same boat as Kemp. ''America must guard against the hubris of great power,'' he declared at the University of Notre Dame on Friday. He cited The Savage Wars of Peace by Max Boot, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an intellectual guide of the war hawks. ''In deploying American power,'' Boot writes, ''decision makers should be less apologetic, less hesitant, less humble.'' Hagel advised that America today ''needs more humility.'' Nobody doubts that Powell is closer to Hagel than to Boot. In a dinner with the president last Aug. 5, Powell laid out the fearsome consequences of unilateral U.S. military action. Surely, the general did not change that much during the intervening six months. Whether events have made his comments irrelevant worries like-minded Republicans. News | Sports | Business | Entertainment | Lifestyles | Classifieds Visit our online partners: Daily Southtown Pioneer Press Suburban Chicago Newspapers Post-Tribune Star Newspapers Jerusalem Post Daily Telegraph Copyright 2003, Digital Chicago Inc. Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article have to stand on their own merits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many genera- tions. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sut <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
