Colin Powell and Weapons of Mass Deception in Iraq

The recent passing of Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, brought forth many stories of his illustrious career. But, unfortunately, his speech at the United Nations on February 5, 2003, making a case for war with Iraq, will be what people will never forget.

His speech at the U.N should have been titled “Looking for Weapons of Mass Deception.”

His reliance on faulty intelligence and outright fabrications of intelligence caused him the most problems. For example, in Secretary Powell’s speech at the U.N., he claimed, “every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources, and “That these are not assertions, but we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.”

After military personnel had entered and occupied Iraq and uncovered no evidence of nuclear or biological weapons, Powell blamed defects in the U.S. intelligence process rather than deception by those who favored invasion.

Powell’s regrets

Speaking to television journalist Barbara Walters after stepping down in 2005, Powell said he was “devastated” when he learned that some within the intelligence community had harbored earlier doubts about the sources cited in his presentation.

Subsequent investigations suggested that intelligence officials had warned then-CIA director George Tenet before Powell’s speech about doubts surrounding the primary source. A man code-named Curveball claimed that Hussein was using mobile laboratories to advance the country’s biological weapons development. However, the investigation found that Tenet did not tell Powell about those warnings. Moreover, Tenet himself has said he did not learn of the concerns about the source until later.

President Bush, under intense pressure from Vice President Cheney, ordered Powell to draw up the most compelling case for United Nations support for the invasion of Iraq. Powell was an obedient soldier who believed in the observance of the chain of command. Powell wrote in one of his books that up till the night before and even the day of his speech, he kept questioning C.I.A. director George Tenet about the inaccuracy of his intelligence. Before his speech, Secretary Powell insisted that Director Tenet sit behind him when giving his address so that Powell would not be the only one who looked bad if this information was incorrect.

Powell said “that he had misgiving about the information in the speech but decided “he would be the good soldier and follow orders.”

President Bush, when he gave his notorious Mission Accomplished speech on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln could have imagined what was to come later in Iraq, such as:

• The infamous Abu Ghraib prison incident of widespread abuse of prisoners, including sexual abuse and humiliation.
• The sectarian violence that the invasion caused.
• The four Blackwater agents hung on the bridge at Fallujah.

Secretary Powell was forced to resign after Bush was reelected in 2004, but his reputation was forever tarnished.

Knowing that the information he was given was false, Powell should have caused him to recall the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Rule 916(d) of the Manual for Courts-Martial says: “it is a defense to any offense that the accused was acting under orders unless the accused knew the orders to be unlawful or a person of ordinary sense and understanding would have known the orders to be unlawful.”

Secretary Powell was a civilian when he gave his speech, but he still should have recalled the U.C.of M.J. and not given the address when he had had doubts about the intelligence he was given.

Covering up My Lai massacre

While in Vietnam as a major assigned to the division’s headquarters as an assistant. Major Powell was handed a letter, written the previous month, by a private, Tom Glen, an ammo carrier for a mortar platoon in the 3rd Infantry. The letter was addressed to Gen. William C. Westmoreland and passed down to the division, where it landed in Powell’s lap. He was instructed to check it out and respond within 72 hours. Powell interviewed officers in his unit, including the battalion commander who complained that Glen “was a rear-guard type who could not have witnessed the capture of enemy prisoners much less their torture.”

Powell informed his superiors that “the young soldier’s charges were false, except possibly, for isolated instances. It was only later that the full report came out of My Lai that more than 500 people were massacred, including 182 women and 173 children. Of course, later,

Powell would regret his part in covering up My Lai, which was widely condemned as a war crime. Unfortunately for Americans, Colin Powell’s speech at the U.N. and his investigation of the My Lai massacre led him to abandon running for President.