Powell Speaks

I'm fairly convinced that Secretary of State Colin Powell is principled man. From a distance, figuring out what those principles are can be quite a chore, though. The Beeb is reporting a couple of statements from him that don't exactly make the calculation of Powell's principles very clear.

Mr Powell told the newspaper that although former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein may not have possessed chemical, biological or nuclear weapons he intended to acquire them and tried to maintain the capability of producing them in case sanctions were lifted.

But he said the belief that Iraq had these weapons had made the case for war stronger and added that he did not know if he would have recommended an invasion if this belief had proved unfounded.

"It was the stockpile that presented the final little piece that made it more of a real and present danger and threat to the region and to the world," he said.

Okay, fair enough. I don't happen to agree, but think that it's a defensible position.

Later, though, he says something very different.

"I think it was clear that this was a regime with intent, capability and it was a risk the president felt strongly we could not take and it was something we all agreed to and would probably agree to it again under any other set of circumstances," he said, according to Reuters.

He said that, despite the inquiry into intelligence failures, "the bottom line is this: The president made the right decision.

"He made the right decision based on the history of this regime, the intention that this leader - terrible, despotic leader - had, and the capabilities at a variety of levels - the delivery systems that were there, and there's nobody debating that, the infrastructure that was there, the technical know-how that was there," he said.

On the legitimacy of US involvement in Iraq, Colin Powell represents quite the moving target, doesn't he?

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at February 3, 2004 01:08 PM | TrackBack