The Powell Connection

This weekend, former Secretary of State Colin Powell voiced his support of Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama. Of course, the Obama camp loves the support. Who wouldn't? The former Secretary of State is a veteran of the first Gulf War, a decorated officer, certainly a respectable individual.

Senator Obama has announced that Powell will have a role in the Obama administration (should Senator Obama win the Presidency). The candidate did not specify, but he did say he'd like Powell as an advisor. The former Secretary certainly has experience there. He served as Secretary of State during the current President's first term. He made regular trips abroad to have conferences with international leaders. An assett here would certainly give Obama's foreign policy credentials a shot in the arm.

There is one potential problem. It was Colin Powell who made the case to the United Nations for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Initially, the former Secretary was opposed to an invasion, believing economic sanctions against Iraq prevented the development of weapons of mass destruction. But he did come to support the President's proposal. Some of Powell's statements include:

"Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets. Even the low end of 100 tons of agent would enable Saddam Hussein to cause mass casualties across more than 100 square miles of territory, an area nearly five times the size of Manhattan."

"Let me remind you that - of the 122 mm chemical warheads that the UN inspectors found recently. This discovery could very well be, as has been noted, the tip of a submerged iceberg."

"Let me turn now to nuclear weapons. We have no indication that Saddam Hussein has ever abandoned his nuclear weapons program. On the contrary, we have more than a decade of proof that he remains determined to acquire nuclear weapons."

"Some believe, some claim, these contacts do not amount to much. They say Saddam Hussein's secular tyranny and al-Qaida's religious tyranny do not mix. I am not comforted by this thought. Ambition and hatred are enough to bring Iraq and al-Qaida together, enough so al-Qaida could learn how to build more sophistocated bombs and learn how to forge documents, and enough so that al-Qaida could turn to Iraq for help in acquiring expertise on weapons of mass destruction."

"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more. Given Saddam Hussein's history of aggression, given what we know of his grandiose plans, given what we know of his terrorist associations, and given his determination to exact revenge on those who oppose him, should we take the risk that he will not someday use these weapons at a time and a place in a manner of his choosing, at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond?"

These quotations were lifted from the transcript of Secretary Powell's speech on the State Department's website. The entire speech can be read here: http://www.state.gov/secretary/former/powell/remarks/2003/17300.htm

So was he just pushing the Bush agenda? Well, the speech has a personal touch to it. Certainly, the former Secretary would be an assett to the Obama administration. He would make up for Barack's lack of foreign policy experience. But the Illinois Senator has run on a platform that oppose the war effort, that denies Iraq ever had weapons of mass destruction. Some argue he won the Democratic nomination for this very reason ("I opposed this war from the start."). So is Powell someone who really upholds Obama's ideals? Is he just upset with the McCain camp's apparent negativity in their campaign ads? I can't say. But this does leave me with far more questions than answers.