Ponderings of a Scientist

Comment by tizzom

September 15, 2006 @ 11:30 am

Any links to the G.W. diss? I always thought Powell was a tool because he just went along with whatever they told him to before the Iraq war and didn’t exhibit any kind of backbone in standing up to the dudes pushing for war. But whatever, because for me, it’s never too late to hear someone slide something in on Fvckface.
will i see you and zipy tonight? i need to pick out a beer. maybe i’ll just make redeyes and convince everyone that it doesn’t matter what your beer tastes like, you can still make it tasty with tomato juice. an added bonus is the tye-dye appearance of puke stains later in the evening.

Comment by scientist

September 15, 2006 @ 12:55 pm

Zipy will be there. I work on the Powell thing when I get home.

Comment by scientist

September 18, 2006 @ 8:27 am

Ok this is the deal on Powell as I know it: He sent a letter to John McCain totally dissing the White House plan to change the prisoner torture treatment laws. Basically saying it was unconstitutional and would further degrade our standing in the World’s political arena. I do agree with you, its about time he made a stand, although I think you give him less credit then he actually deserves. In reading “Plan of Attack” by Bob Woodward, you can see that Powell put up a big stink about all of G.W’s go to war with Iraq policies and actually convinced the White House to spend more time attempting diplomatic means and multinational support efforts, than Dick and Georgy wanted. In the end, however, he went along with the commander as any good military man would. Then, a few months later, his conscience got to him and he quit, thus giving another war monger, Condi Rice, the chance to showboat diplomacy.

Comment by tizzom

September 18, 2006 @ 11:46 am

I know so little about this that I have thoughts but they are definately speculative. If he knew something he should have stood against it. Isnt there some kind of clause in the military that lets subordinates question their orders if they know the commander is misinformed? The military is checked by the judiciary and public in this country, he could have come out against it if he knew something, which it seems he did if he was pushing to not go to war. I havent read the Woodward book although I probably should. I am sure Powell faced difficult decisions and he weighed on them more heavily than Bush and or Cheney.

Comment by Z.Monkey

September 18, 2006 @ 4:38 pm

There are people who are very persuasive; who can sit there and talk you into things that you know are a bad idea. Beer is a good example of this. But I lost a lot of respect for Powell and I don’t think I will get it back. The war was a bad idea and poorly carried out. It will haunt us for a long time.

Comment by scientist

September 19, 2006 @ 8:09 am

I think it has to end before it can haunt us. More like it will last a long time and then haunt us forever after.