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| Home Front: Politix |
| Powell's contribution? |
| 2005-04-24 |
| Interesting observation in Jim Hoagland's column today on the Global War on Extremism. snip In Bush's first term, bitter disputes -- based in personality clashes and a settling of old scores as much as in substance -- would have handicapped such an exercise. But internal strife has largely subsided since the departure of Powell and his powerful deputy, Richard Armitage, who skillfully provided background information on the shortcomings of perceived enemies at the Pentagon and elsewhere to congressional and other allies. Here's an interesting coincidence: Armitage was a mentor to virtually all of the State Department personnel whose cases of mistreatment by U.N. ambassador-designate John Bolton were cited in Senate hearings last week, and Powell has pointedly declined to support Bolton. |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #3 powell as sec-state was an abysmal failure. Humiliated by Villepin at the UN. Redused to make the case for pre-emption with any force or passion. Traveled less than any sec-state in recent history and achieved less. And throughout it all, he was continuously winking at his champions at the NYT and elsewhere in the MSM about his personal disapproval of Bush's policy. A disgrace, really. A sorry end to the ultimate insider's career in beltway gamesmanship. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-04-24 9:42:13 PM |
| #2 Richard Armitage's entire purpose of being is to be one of only a handful of the diplomatic equivalent of James Bond. He goes wherever there are the blackest of black ops, to do outrageous things and to start fights. For example, the US wanted out of the Phillipines, but not to pay a fortune in reparations for it. So Armitage went there, took over the treaty negotiations and started adding endless offensive demands. So the Phillipinos kicked the US out, and didn't demand one red cent. Before that, he was in charge of Reagan's POW/MIA office--tasked with the job of *covering up* any evidence that POWs or MIAs were still alive in SE Asia. He's been implicated in enormous drug smuggling operations, black budget money laundering, and any number of shadowy enterprises--all disavowed by the government. Even his Internet resume changes on an annual basis. He should have retired long ago, but his skills are so unique he's been shuttled between government agencies since mid-Vietnam. Think of him as the USs equivalent to 007, and be assured that anything he's involved with is underhanded. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-04-24 1:50:13 PM |
| #1 Gee, Mrs. D. - you think there's a pattern here? Sticks to high heaven. |
| Posted by: too true 2005-04-24 1:12:33 PM |