Colin Blow
It’s starting to get ugly…er. Uglier.
From a comment at Political Animal...
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Powell aides go public on rift with Bush
Colin Powell’s key aide has described US sanctions policy against countries such as Pakistan and Cuba as “the dumbest policy on the face of the Earth”.
In an article in GQ magazine Larry Wilkerson, chief of staff of the United States secretary of state, bemoans Mr Powell’s firefighting role in President George Bush’s cabinet.
“He has spent as much time doing damage control and, shall we say, apologising around the world for some less-than-graceful actions as he has anything else.”
The article, which includes an interview with Mr Powell, is most illuminating for the comments made by his close friends and colleagues who are explicit about his distrust and disdain for the hawks in the administration.
Mr Powell’s deputy, Richard Armitage, remarks on his boss’s anguish at the damage to his credibility following his speech to the United Nations last year making the case for war and insisting there were weapons of mass destruction. “It’s a source of great distress for the secretary,” he said.
Meanwhile his mentor from the National War College, Harlan Ullman, describes the US national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, as a “jerk”.
He said: “This is, in many ways, the most ideological administration Powell’s ever had to work for. Not only is it very ideological, but they have a vision. And I think Powell is inherently uncomfortable with grand visions like that.”
Their candour suggests that the internecine battles within the administration are becoming increasingly bitter and open, particularly those between the departments of defence and the state. “None of Powell’s friends had made any pretence of speculating about or guessing at his feelings,” wrote the journalist, Wil Hylton. “They spoke for him openly and on the record.”
There’s more. Read the article. If this wasn’t real life, I swear I’d be on the floor laughing my ass off.
Wait. I heard something news stories that had come from The Onion being reported as real. Lemme check…
Nope. This is real news.
Wednesday, May 5th, 2004 @ 10:07 pm 
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