“(AHN) - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday that he will not attend the Democratic National Convention as claimed by Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard editor.
‘I do not have time to waste on Bill Kristol’s musings,’ Powell told ABC. ‘I am not going to the convention. I have made this clear.’
Kristol said in a Fox report earlier in the day that Powell was planning to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on the third night of the convention, the day Democrats speak about the theme “Securing America’s Future.” He added that Powell is scheduled to give a speech explaining his support for Obama.” — Kris Alingod/AHN News Writer
Colin Powell was a voice of moderation and reason in the Bush Administration. He was frequently at odds with Dick Cheney and the rest of the neocons, who had an ill-fated pipe dream of invading Iraq and turning the Muslim country into a bastion of democracy.
“In July 2007 Powell revealed that he spent two and a half hours trying to persuade George W. Bush not to invade Iraq but that he did not prevail.” — Quotation from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell)
Powell was deeply opposed to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but instead of doing the honorable thing and resigning he went before the United Nations to present his “dog and pony” show in favor of attacking Iraq.
Colin Powell: The Speech that led to WAR (1/8)
Powell’s speech before the UN was such an egregious betrayal of everything that he stood for, that it forever mars an otherwise sterling political and military career.
Sen. Barack Obama’s early claim to fame was that he was against the Iraq war from the start. His vehement opposition to the Iraq war is the main reason why he is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Under no circumstances should Obama accept Powell’s endorsement, it would be a betrayal of everything he stands for.
Powell’s timidity and cowardice at a critical juncture in history has forever stained his legacy, and if Obama accepts his endorsement it will compromise his moral legitimacy.
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TUES OCT 17, 2002 15:30:38 ET
Singer Harry Belafonte took to the AM radiowaves on Tuesday morning to slam Secretary of State Colin Powell as a sellout to the black race!
Belafonte, appearing on San Diego’s 760 KFMB, told host Ted Leitner that Powell was like a plantation slave who moves into the slave owner’s house and only says what his master wants him to say.
“There’s an old saying,” Belafonte began. “In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and were those slaves that lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master… exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him.
“Colin Powell’s committed to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture.”
For close to twenty minutes, Belafonte ripped the entire Bush administration, including an attack on Attorney General John Ashcroft.
“There’s something wrong with men who think the way Ashcroft does and who manipulate the justice system the way he does.”
Belafonte likened Ashcroft’s tactics to the McCarthy era:
“Families were destroyed, neighbors spied on neighbors. Now we find Ashcroft cutting in under the guise of catching terrorists, suspending liberties and rights. To deny those rights, to any citizen, to any people, is to cast a great shame on us and lead us back to another dark period.”
Belafonte also sang the praises of the United Nations as a pillar of global democracy, and decried President Bush for failing to attend the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa earlier this year.
“There were tens of thousands of peoples and leaders from all over the world gathered to discuss the issue of race. It was an honorable arena… But by not showing up, by sticking it to the government of Nelson Mandela… It was a dark page on our foreign policy.”
Belafonte is best known for the international hit “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”.
2. Former aide: Powell WMD speech ‘lowest point in my life’ — A former top aide to Colin Powell says his involvement in the former secretary of state’s presentation to the United Nations on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction was “the lowest point” in his life.
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