Some 5+ years after mouthing all those lies to the world (at least to the UN) for a horrible war in Iraq, Colin Powell redeems himself. Not (just) because he endorses Barack Obama, but because of this:
I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said, such things as, "Well, you that know Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
Lessig calls his monologue "the most important, most profound, more powerfully argued 7 minutes of this campaign."
Quite a few bloggers that I respect have picked up on this already: Rahul, Swarup, and Dilip.
Immediately after he said the stuff quoted above, Powell talks about a picture that he saw in a recent photo essay. You can see that picture here.
2 Comments:
"Redeem?" - I am intrigued by this hyperbolic expression. Powell continues to stand by the decision to go to war and ravage an entire people, and all this is redeemed by a few sentences paying homilies? Good words by Powell, but certainly this is too trifle to redeem him.
These are his words:
I'm well aware of the role I played [in the Iraq war]. My role has been very, very straightforward. I wanted to avoid a war. The president agreed with me. We tried to do that. We couldn't get it through the U.N. and when the president made the decision, I supported that decision. And I've never blinked from that. I've never said I didn't support a decision to go to war. source
[italics mine]
Abi,
Thanks for the mention but respect? I blog because I want to learn. Because of my background, it is easier to understand Indian blogs with some academic background. Blogs like yours and 'The Other India' helped. I am still learning and still confused. Regards,
swarup
Post a Comment