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Colin Powell's chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson now acknowledges: “I participated in a hoax on the American people, the international community, and the United Nations Security Council.” @theintercept/1450216733915103245
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“I didn’t have any choice,” Powell told Draper feebly. “What choice did I have? He’s the president.”
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The ideology of Presidential Absolutism in matters of war is most firmly held by those who have both the knowledge and rank to challenge presidential lies and misjudgments. It also totally asymmetrical, and rarely embraced by generals who prefer more aggressive warfare.
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As cover for a failure to courageously speak out, it draws on the military chain of command, but afflicts soldier, veteran, and civilian official alike.
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Colin Powell's case is perhaps the most tragic because his participation in the war was largely about lending his personal credibility to dubious conjectures about weapons of mass destruction.
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The USA has a deep historical need for a tradition of honorable dissent and resigning in protest at the senior level, and no one has ever been better placed to start that than Colin Powell in 2002-03.
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Failing that, the workings of state are best revealed by mid-ranking whistle blowers, of which there is a long and honorable tradition, and honest investigative reporters.