Arab journalists boycotted Colin Powell press conference.
Colin Powell has had a rough week. Arab journalists walked out of his press conference in Baghdad and he was kept waiting for 30 minutes by Spain's new Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Their meeting only lasted for 15 minutes, maybe Colin's nose was out of joint.
I find it hard to feel any sympathy for Colin Powell. At least the Spanish didn't put him on a plane and send him to the Central African Republic. Black Americans and white liberals have been making excuses for him for far too long. Powell threw Aristide out of the country he was elected to lead. If the only pay back is waiting to meet a Prime Minister he has gotten off easily. Powell plays the good cop, and his performance is starting to look stale. He is no different from Rice, Cheney or Rumsfeld and he should be judged accordingly.
By the way, the Arab journalists who walked out of the press conference showed more courage than their American counterparts have in over a year of reporting the invasion of Iraq. Two Iraqi reporters were killed by American soldiers. What did Powell have to say? Only some gobbledygook about "freedoms to Iraqis of the kind they have never enjoyed before, as you just saw exercised a few moments ago." They also have the freedom to be killed by jumpy U.S. soldiers.
