Ex-Aide: Powell Misled Americans

In a perfect world, sure. But the argument that the tax cut would boost the economy was inherently flawed. The poorest did not receive a tax cut and they were exactly the ones who would have spent it. The idea that all Americans received a tax cut was just one more in a series of lies from the Bush White House.

 

I meant the lowest tax bracket, DaDa. Bush promised tax relief to all taxpayers. He lied. Kind of like no child left behind or the clean air act or the AIDS relief to Africa or the war or compassionate conservatism in general. It's a style thing. Say one thing, do another. Works out alright, since most Americans aren't too interested in politics.

 

I was hoping I wasn't the only one who watched and that someone else would comment. But okay...

It was very damning. Thielman was Powell's top analyst on WMD intelligence. He'd taken a long-planned retirement a few months before the speech and was flabbergasted (I think that was actually his word) when he saw the speech. Said his initial reaction was very angry but having made an effort to cool down before responding to questions about the speech, he simply characterized it as Powell's lowest moment in a long career of great service to the nation. He said it was disappointing mostly because up to that point Powell had been bringing reason to the White House debates and this speech made it clear that he'd given in and was carrying water for Bush, regardless of what he knew to be true (and not true). He said there was no way Powell believed the aluminum tube story at the time of the speech -- that it had been discredited by all the top experts.

One of those top experts (sorry, can't remember his name) was interviewed too and he'd also been shocked by the allegation about the tubes, since he knew that they'd all made it clear to the White House that there was no way they could have been used as centrifuges. ('wrong size, three times too thick, definitely would have leaked... no possible way') It wasn't even in question according to this guy. There was no room to disagree -- they just weren't suited for it and, meanwhile, they were perfectly suited to conventional weaponry. In fact they perfectly matched Iraqi rockets. He said when he saw Powell's speech he was sure they'd found something else and was shocked to find that this was the old, roundly discredited theory. 60 Minutes played a clip of Powell admitting the aluminum tube thing was controversial but that most experts agreed with the nuclear theory. They asked their expert (supposedly one of the very top in the field, who is in regular contact with all the other experts) if he knew of anyone who would credit the nuclear theory. He said not a single person he knew of would.

They also talked to a UN weapons inspector who said the inspection team watched that speech with the anticipation of watching a Super Bowl -- that they were all convinced the United States had been holding back evidence of WMD's and that they were gonna shock the UN with it in the speech. When asked what the reaction to the speech was, he said different guys laughed at different parts. When asked what the reaction was at the end of the speech he said the guys all looked at each other and said, 'They've got nothing.'

They also showed the surveillance stuff, where Powell pointed to a supposed chemical cleanup truck as a 'signature' of a WMD plant. The UN inspectors said they were sent to the site and it was a firetruck. Said that happened several times -- US surveillance sending them on wild goose chases. When asked if any US intelligence ever led them to anything, he said no, never.

The most damning thing about the whole report though was Thielman's account. This wasn't an assistant or just some aide -- he was Powell's top WMD intelligence analyst and he had insight into Powell's take on the intelligence. And he was of the strictly clear opinion that Powell knew he was passing off bad information at the UN and that he knew he was misleading them and the American people. When asked why he'd do it, he basically said he must have done it for Bush.

Bob Dole said it best. "Where is the outrage?" Powell should be fired, Bush should be impeached. Like yesterday. For a while some people tried to say, well you can't blame the White House if they got bad intelligence... They didn't. They got GOOD intelligence and covered it up. They got what they knew to be bad intelligence and passed it off as good. They lied, Americans died. They should be in prison.

I'll post the transcript when it becomes available. Should be about a week, I think.

 

DD: Good work not watching 60 Minutes. If you had, even you wouldn't have had good enough earplugs or blinders to continue supporting this criminal administration.