Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Colin Powell's Pants are on Fire

Colin Powell, the ultimate political survivor, is back in the news. In response to recent suggestions that troop levels in Iraq should be increased, he replied that the U.S. army is "about broken."

No one should thank Powell for telling us what has been obvious for a long time. Any ideas of increasing the numbers of troops in Iraq are pure fantasy, unless of course the Bushies go along with Congressman Charles Rangel's proposal to bring back the draft.

Anyway, Powell is a gigantic liar. Sam Husseini, who you probably never heard of, was the only member of the press to ask Powell hard questions after a Face the Nation appearance last week.
Sam Husseini: Do you know that Hussein Kamel said that there were no WMDs? Did you know that?
Colin Powell: What’s that?
Husseini: You cited Hussein Kamel in your UN testimony. Did you know that he said that there were no WMDs, did you know that at the time?
Powell: I only knew what the intelligence community told me.
Husseini: But did you know that fact?
Powell: Of course not!
Husseini: You didn’t know that he said that, even though it was reported?
Powell: I -
Husseini: You didn’t know -
Powell: I’ve answered your question.
Husseini: You didn’t know that he said there were no WMDs.


As Powell attempts to resurrect himself from the ashes of the Bush team, he should be asked these questions again and again. He lied and those lies had horrific consequences. Maybe Husseini can do us all a favor and clone himself. Any puncturing of the American bubble of ignorance is a good thing.