Post from the Past - Margaret Kimberly on Condi and Colin
Reprinted from Black Commentator
January 2005
Who makes the worst Secretary of State? Is it better to have a smooth talking good cop who is still a snake, or a very frightening lover of the Bush doctrine who is utterly incompetent? Condoleezza Rice, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, is multi-lingual, a former provost of a major university, a figure skating champion and a classical pianist. Her bio is clearly that of a very intelligent individual, but the old adage warning against judging books by the cover must be heeded in her case.
Colin Powell managed to maintain a good guy, down to earth image, even as he helped to kill thousands of people. On the other hand, Condi just doesn’t have a clue. She gives us the creeps because she is truly creepy. Rice is a true believer in the Bush doctrine. Powell sticks his finger in the wind to test which way the political wind is blowing, all so that he can decide how to go along and get ahead. Powell’s cynicism should not give him a pass. He can’t be absolved of the horror he has heaped upon the world. His hands are as bloody as the rest of the Bushmen.
Being joyful at the misfortune of others is usually not an admirable trait, but sometimes it is difficult to stifle that particular urge. The joy of watching Colin Powell get the heave ho is matched only by the sudden departure of his son Michael Powell from the chairmanship of the Federal Communications Commission.
Powell fils gave the usual statement about completing his mission of keeping us safe from Howard Stern’s potty mouth and Janet Jackson’s breast, and of course he wants to spend more time with his family. This skeptic has a more cynical take. If dad is shown the door, why bother keeping junior around?
Powell the younger, like his dear old dad, did the bidding of the right wing. He spent most of his time at the FCC accelerating the consolidation of the media and giving their corporate masters exactly what they wanted. Now they can get someone to complete the task who isn’t burdened with a has-been father. Junior will join his daddy on the dust bin of history. No one should feel guilty about laughing. He deserves as much scorn as Powell the Elder.
The only thing more satisfying than the downfall of the Powell clan is news that Bill Cosby may be a groper who slips a micky when he wants to get wild. A woman accused him of drugging her drink and then having his way with her. The man who is enjoying renewed celebrity status by making up vile lies about black people may be an ordinary pervert. Now that is funny.
Meanwhile Condi Rice continues her strange ascent. During her confirmation hearings she couldn’t even keep her facts straight with Senators predisposed to like her. Democrat Joseph Biden made it clear he would vote to confirm her. She then messed up as usual in her attempt to toe the Bush line that she loves so much.
Biden asked the good doctor how many Iraqis have been trained to serve as a police/security force. Rice replied, “We think the number right now is somewhere over 120,000.â€
The pro-war Senator said, in essence, no way. “I think you’ll find if you speak to the folks on the ground they don’t think there’s more than 4,000 actually trained Iraqi forces. I strongly urge you to pick up the phone or go see these folks.†There is an awfully big difference between 120,000 and 4,000. The soon to be Secretary of State has a big problem with figures.
That less than stellar performance was only the latest in a series of gaffes that would kill the career of anyone not well loved by the powerful. The same woman who made such undiplomatic statements as, “Encourage the Russians, ignore the Germans and punish the French,†will now be America’s top diplomat.
While Condi gave her usual sub-par performance before the Senate, her predecessor got a personal send off to Pallookaville from his boss. Continuing the annual pretense at honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, the hateful war monger President used King Day to honor the dishonorable Powell:
â€He’s been tireless and selfless and principled. In the work he and I have shared, he has become a great friend, and I appreciate all he has done for our wonderful country.â€
With friends like Bush, Powell surely doesn’t need any enemies. In Powell’s farewell to State Department staff he declared himself to be proud of what he called accomplishments. Is he proud of forcing the elected president of Haiti out of office? Is he proud that he looked members of the Congressional Black Caucus in the face and told them he would do no such thing? Is he proud to have sat in the United Nations and claimed that tons of anthrax existed in Iraq?
The inept criminal will actually be better than the smooth criminal. Condi makes the Bush menace obvious, Colin helped them look good. It is hard to claim do-gooder status with Rice at the helm. It is now clear. Dr. Condoleezza Rice will make the better Secretary of State.
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Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City. She can be reached via e-Mail at margaret.kimberley@blackcommentator.com. You can read more of Ms. Kimberley’s writings at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/
Loktha:
Hey ! Codi is creepy not because she endorse Bush’s policies, but because SHES IS the author of those policies (Together with Dic).
19 June 2005, 7:01 pmAs for Powell, he was, he is and he will remain a “soldier”. I think he is a role model to follow by the other soldiers in Iraq quagmire : When a solidier disagree, he leaves the army.
ray-davison:
In January 2000, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice wrote an article for Foreign Affairs magazine titled Campaign 2000 — Promoting the National Interest promoting regime change in Iraq.
“As history marches toward markets and democracy, some states have been left by the side of the road. Iraq is the prototype. Saddam Hussein’s regime is isolated, his conventional military power has been severely weakened, his people live in poverty and terror, and he has no useful place in international politics. He is therefore determined to develop WMD. Nothing will change until Saddam is gone, so the United States must mobilize whatever resources it can, including support from his opposition, to remove him. These regimes are living on borrowed time, so there need be no sense of panic about them.”
she’s a good girl, writes the winning essay, prize is her freedom, quite a shameful pathology to pay such a perquy salary to; hey, can’t y’all do any better? bunch a smarmy dweeb fratboys, just as stupid as their moronic parents. ai yai yai …
20 June 2005, 12:01 pmJeanette R. Grandstaff:
There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein killed many people. Uprisings and civil and border wars were rife. Killing was a way of life, but take note of the real story of the much-toted “Gasing of the Kurds”, at Halabja in March,1988 which Bush gave as an example of Hussein’s evil doing. The Kurds were gassed, but not by Hussein, according to Stephen C. Pelletiere, senior political analyst on Iraq from 1988-2000. In a border fight with Iran,a gas was used in the battle by both Iraquis and Iranians. The town was in the midst of this.Iranians used cyanide-based gas and the Iraquis had mustard gas. The dead Kurds, according to the US Defense Intelligence Agency, were victims of the Iranian-owned cyanide gas, not the mustard gas which the Iraquis had.
20 June 2005, 1:46 pmIn conjunction with all of this, much of the gas and germ warfare weapons were supplied to Iraq by the U.S.
Look up this whole story in the New York Times, Friday, January 31, 2003. Then add it to our other known information about the lies and deceits of this war.
Ed:
The sole substantive criticism of Condi in this article is the story about her providing an inaccurate answer to a Senator. Other than that, it’s just a merry exercise in adjectives of contempt.
I like this blog, though I disagree with most of it. Considering opposing points of view helps me understand an issue, and this blog presents the opposing point of view better than most.
But Stan, why do you and your readers substitute disdainful sarcasm for persuasive analysis? Can’t you find something more intellectually rigorous and penetrating than this article to post?
20 June 2005, 10:15 pmMewshkin:
To most of us, the fact that Condi is a ‘true believer’ is a very substantive criticism indeed. Additionally to anyone this side of the pond at least, the utterly crass quote attributed her would seem to disqualify her from diplomacy *regardless* of politics.
21 June 2005, 3:13 pmThis isn’t someone who has just dropped out of the ether, she has a very well known record, not needing a full recital to the articles readers. As do the Powells.
ray-davison:
and heybubba it’s an useful way to exercize our first amendment right to adjectives absent color of statutory felony. As in:”it’s not her,it’s the boss-men, stupid.”
22 June 2005, 11:16 am