This is patently untrue.
Powell was Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff during the planning and execution of the Iraq invasion, which means he had access to more pertinent intelligence than even the President. Who was in a better position to know what Iraq's strength was than he? The on-site inspectors repeatedly told him there were no such weapons and he ignored them.
The information you are thinking of is the Iraqui invasion of Kuwait. By the time the invasion of Iraq came about, Powell was already secretary of state. And, even there you're wrong. The Iraq invasion of Kuwait was in 1990 and Powell didn't become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs until 1993.
According to Colin Powell, before he gave his address to the United Nations to justify the invasion of Iraq he demanded to see the inspection reports himself. He accepted nothing that was provided to him. According to Hans Blix, the UN inspector, no one ever said that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Blix said that the UN inspectors couldn't get access to the sites they were to inspect. Blix said they could not verify that Iraq had or didn't have wmd. Based on the lack of verification and access, Powell determined that an invasion was necessary and made his speech at the United Nations gaining the resolution to invade.
You're quite right. In relying on fading memory I made a mistake in the time line of Powell's political ascent, for which I apologize. But that chronological error did in no way alter the point I was making, which is Powell's shameful and treacherous disposition toward the troops who once trusted him prior to his performance as Bush's
house ******.
While it's true Powell was not Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Iraq invasion, he did occupy that role during the so-called
Gulf War, which means
no one knew better than he what sort of weapons capability Saddam Hussein had and didn't have! The fact is he chose to do what General Eric Shinseki refused to do, which is commit American troops to an invasion which was sure to result in a significant number of casualties unless reinforced by
two hundred thousand more than was planned for.
Eric K. Shinseki News - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/us/politics/07shinseki.html?_r=0
That refusal resulted in the honorable General Shinseki being forced by Bush's henchman, Donald Rumsfeld, to resign. General Shinseki is an honorable man and his action stands as evidence of Powell's disgrace.
Colin Powell, proceeded with the single condition that he could blame his deception on the CIA chief, George Tenet, if it backfired. He went before the UN, The U.S. Congress, and the world, with cartoon props, knowing exactly what he was doing and he supported an action which cost the lives of 5,800 American troops and maimed tens of thousands more, not to mention the deaths of countless innocent Iraqi civilians, including babies and their mothers.
Colin Powell, as Secretary of State and former Chairman of The Joint Chiefs, did what General Shinseki refused to do. And while orchestrating the military rescue of Kuwait (the "Gulf War") Powell presided over one of the most disgraceful acts of wanton and unnecessary butchery in the history of modern warfare, the details of which are richly revealed in words and pictures via Google, keywords;
The Iraq Highway of Death. (Timothy McVeigh referred to that shameful action as having disillusioned him and turned him against the U.S. Government.)
Again, Colin Powell had cause to know better than anyone that Hussein had no WMDs. And he knew as well as General Shinseki knew what the Iraq invasion would cost. Yet he went ahead with his infamous deception because serving his master thusly was the price he was willing to pay for his political success. And now the slimy bastard slips out of the shadows now and then, testing the waters to see how many right-wing lemmings are willing to defend his reprehensible conduct against the obvious truth.
Once again, apologies for the technical error in my comment about Colin Powell. But, again, that error in no way alters the point I wished to make. Which is, Colin Powell is a disgrace to the uniform he once wore. He, more than anyone, is responsible for
all the Iraq invasion has cost this Nation. Because were it not for his treacherous deception Bush could not have gotten approval to launch that criminal military aggression.