Powell Urges Caution In Attacking Syria

With each passing day, the United States government creeps closer to taking military action against the Syrian government -- especially since that government has been accused of using chemical weapons against its opponents. The idea is that Syria must be punished for this violation of international law, and some are urging the United States to attack. The current belief is that the U.S., with help from some other NATO countries, will probably attack with cruise missiles.

Frankly, this smacks of the same kind of reasoning that resulted in the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan -- a thinking that somehow the military of the United States is so powerful that it could quickly settle the situation. Unfortunately, that reasoning proved faulty in both Iraq and Afghanistan (as it did years earlier in Vietnam), as we found that trying to impose a political solution at the end of a gun was far different than fighting a conventional war.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell seems to have learned his lesson after the debacles in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he is now urging caution before engaging in the Syrian conflict with military force. He told Bob Schieffer on "Face The Nation":

"I have no affection for Assad. He's a pathological liar."

"I am less sure of the resistance. What do they represent? Is it becoming even more radicalized with more al Qaeda coming in, and what would it look like if they prevailed and Assad went? I don't know."

"In both Egypt and Syria, America has to take a much more clever role. We shouldn't go around thinking that we can really make things happen. We can influence things and we can be ready to help people when problems have been resolved or one side has prevailed over the other."

"To think that we can change things immediately just because we're America, that's not necessarily the case," Powell said. "These are internal struggles."

Mr. Powell is right. I just wish he had this much insight a decade or so ago, when he was played a fool by the Bush administration by sending him out to make the case for invading Iraq (by telling what turned out to be a pack of lies). I don't think Powell knew at the time that the information he was given was known by many in the administration to be untrue, but he seems to be much more cautious of taking a stand for war these days without knowing everything.

Meanwhile, another poll shows that most Americans are not yet ready for another war. A new Rasmussen Poll (conducted on August 23rd and 24th of 1,000 likely voters nationwide -- with a 3 point margin of error) tells us that only 31% of Americans think the U.S. should provide increased military assistance to the Syrian rebels, while 37% remain opposed and 33% are undecided.

Colin Powell On Obama And Romney

Colin Powell offered his views on the 2012 election and the presidential candidates on CBS This Morning last Thursday. Here is what he had to say:

"I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012 and I'll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month." 

"When he took over, the country was in very very difficult straits. We were in the one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression. The fiscal system was collapsing. Wall Street was in chaos, we had 800,000 jobs lost in that first month of the Obama administration and unemployment peaked a few months later at 10 percent. So we were in real trouble. The auto industry was collapsing, the housing was start[ing] to collapse and we were in very difficult straits. And I saw over the next several years, stabilization come back in the financial community, housing is now starting to pick up after four years, it's starting to pick up. Consumer confidence is rising." 

"Generally we've come out of the dive and we're starting to gain altitude. The unemployment rate is too high, people are still hurting in housing but I see that we're starting to rise up."

Powell said he saw "the president get us of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars. And finally I think that the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very very solid. And so, I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on." 

"The governor who was saying things at the debate on Monday night ... was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier. I'm not quite sure which Gov. Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy." 

"One day he has a certain strong view about staying in Afghanistan but then on Monday night he agrees with the withdrawal, same thing in Iraq. On almost every issue that was discussed on Monday night, Governor Romney agreed with the President with some nuances. But this is quite a different set of foreign policy views than he had earlier in the campaign. And my concern ... is that sometimes I don't sense that he has thought through these issues as thoroughly as he should have." 

"As I listen to what his proposals are especially with respect to dealing with respect to our most significant issue, the economy, it's essentially let's cut taxes and compensate for that with other things but that compensation does not cover all of the cuts intended or the new expenses associated with defense."

The Republican Civil War

After their devastating defeat in the 2008 election, I would have thought the Republicans would see that their party was in trouble and start to steer it back to the center. After all, they were not brought to power by just the right-wing, but by a coalition of right-wing Republicans, moderate Republicans, independents and even conservative Democrats -- the so-called "Reagan Coalition".

But that is not happening. If anything, the party seems to be going even further to the right. With far less than 30% of the American population identifying themselves as Republicans now, it would seem obvious that the party needs to appeal to moderates and centrist independents. There are some Republicans who see this, but not many.

Those who want to expand the party and reach out to those in the center are currently being led by Colin Powell. As a left-winger, Powell scares the hell out of me. He is a moderate who is well respected by a large part of the American populace. He is the kind of person who could lead the Republicans back to power in a short period of time.

Fortunately for Democrats, the current powers-that-be in the Republican Party don't seem to be able to see that. In fact, they actually believe the Republicans need to move farther to the right and are actively trying to purge the party of all its moderates. They have already driven Arlen Specter our, and seem to be trying to do the same with Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

He may not be a politician, but the de facto leader of the Republican Party right now is Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh has a large radio audience, but that is all he has. And that radio audience is not nearly large enough to return the Republicans to power. In fact, he turns off the moderates, and drives independents away from the party.

But amazingly, it is Limbaugh that party leaders are lining up behind, including Michael Steele, Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Many congressional Republicans have also chosen to back Limbaugh, or are too afraid to speak against him. This pretty much leaves Powell alone and swinging in the wind.

Although I think the current direction of the Republican Party is suicidal, I hope it continues. If they do remain the party of Limbaugh, it will mean many more good years for Democrats, and that's a good thing.

Colin Powell endorses Obama

In one of the most awaited endorsements of the campaign, former Secretary of State Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama in the race for the presidency. Powell said he is still a Republican, but thinks the Republican Party is moving too far to the right. He also said he doesn't think Sarah Palin is ready to be vice-president.

Speaking of an Obama victory, Powell said, "It would not just elictrify our country, it would elictrify the world. I think he would be a transformational president."

Speaking about McCain, Powell said, "It isn't easy for me to disappoint Sen McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that." He went on to say, "In the case of Mr McCain... you got the sense that he didn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had."

He added, "I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the [Republican] Party say... such things as 'Well, you know that Mr Obama is a Muslim'. Well the correct answer is, 'He's 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 is 'No', that's not America."

This is a real blow for the McCain campaign, since Powell is one of the most respected Republicans in the country.

For his part, Barack Obama said he was humbled by Powell's support. He said, "He knows, as we do, that this is a moment where we need to come together as one nation - young and old, rich and poor, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Republican and Democrat."