Columns
ECLECTIC RANT: the Background of Powell’s UN Speech
I am not a Republican and have never voted for a Republican, but I acknowledge that Colin Powell was an exemplary public servant and an honorable person. Unfortunately, the news of his death invariably mentions his February 5, 2003 speech to the United Nations, but rarely mentions the backstory to his speech that Powell saw as a “blot" on his record.
Let’s briefly look at the events leading up to this speech. In 2002, instead of invading Iraq, Powell advised Bush to take this case to the UN to try to resolve the issue of their alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) diplomatically. The U.S. took the matter to the UN but Saddam Hussein failed to provide persuasive evidence that he did not have WMD. Congress then overwhelmingly passed the war powers resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq.
In January 2003, Bush told Powell that he had decided to invade Iraq and persuaded him to try to get UN authorization for the invasion. The basis for this February 2003 UN speech was a national intelligence estimate that had been given to the Congress months earlier.
The UN did not authorize the war but Bush invaded Iraq anyway. Bush called it a preemptive war. No WMD were ever found in Iraq.
On September 16, 2004, Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan, speaking on the invasion, said, "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter. From our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal.”
Powell’s speech did rally U.S. public support for the war, but undermined its credibility with the UN.
In September 2004, Powell admitted before Congress that his intelligence sources during the presentation were inaccurate, stating officials knew the information was false but had never told him. Powell did the honorable act by resigning. To my knowledge, no other Bush administration official involved in the decision to invade Iraq resigned.
Did Powell really knowingly lie in his UN speech or was it an intelligence failure Given Powell’s strength of character, I believe the latter.
