Colin Powell to resign top US job

[Talon]

Colin Powell to resign top US job

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said he is resigning, his department has confirmed.

He will step down from his post once President Bush has chosen a successor, officials were quoted as saying.

The 67-year-old, long rumoured to have planned to serve only one term, was said to have submitted his resignation to President George W Bush last Friday.

A White House spokesman said three other cabinet level resignations would be announced on Monday.

One of those is Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

"The Secretary announced to his staff this morning that he had submitted his resignation on Friday," Reuters quoted a state department official as saying.

"He said he was staying on until a successor is confirmed and on board."

Mr Powell was seen as a moderate voice within the Bush administration.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/worl...cas/4013621.stm

[Fluffybunny]

I can't blame the guy for wanting to leave...4 years of working for Bush, I'd want to leave too...

[4dplane]

Powell was one of the very few people left in the US that the world trusted. Even after Powell lied to us and the world about Iraq having WMD; the world still had a sense that he was trying to do all that he could to bring some reality into Bush’s limited view of the world. At least it won't be so easy for Bush to lie to world anymore; he has very few people left that anyone trusts.

[Mad Manfred]

Powell was one of the very few people left in the US that the world trusted. Even after Powell lied to us and the world about Iraq having WMD; the world still had a sense that he was trying to do all that he could to bring some reality into Bush’s limited view of the world. At least it won't be so easy for Bush to lie to world anymore; he has very few people left that anyone trusts.

...and how do you know this? Just a guess?

The people I've spoken to over here regard him as a lying snake. His "evidence" is what the Australian Prime Minister used as a basis for sending our troops into danger to fight a war we had nothing to do with.

[Kismit]

Colin powell only delivered the information , it was the intelligence agencies that gathered the information . Dis-liking Colin Powell is just a case of shooting the messenger really . A messenger that delivered a message to an all to eager audience .

In my opinion Colin Powell has allways tried to keep both a political and a military tactic going , that's more than George Bush could ever hope to achieve.

His "evidence" is what the Australian Prime Minister used as a basis for sending our troops into danger to fight a war we had nothing to do with.

Then it was John's decision , granted not one I appreciated him making but a decision made by him non the less . Not Colin Powell .

The people of Australia can't have been to upset by this Mr. Howard was after all recently voted back in for another term wasn't he ?

This is a retorical question as I am an Australian citizen and well aware of the last election results

[Mad Manfred]

I guess so...though who do you shoot if not the messenger?

Besides, he shouldn't have delivered the news if inaccurate.

Besides, I'm not upset with Howard, he's a competant leader. We could do alot worse.

[Kismit]

Personally , I would probably have voted for Peter Garrett .

But your right Howard does do a good job with everything bar the one decision , so if we can forgive our leader this one mistake then perhaps the messengers mistakes are also forgivable.

Colin Powell did a great Job on what is potentially quite a tight rope walk , and I personally believe the war in Iraq will go longer without his influence on the Government of America .

[bathory]

Besides, he shouldn't have delivered the news if inaccurate.

he'd have to know it was inaccurate...people fail to realise this, if you are going to blame anyone, blame the CIA, blame MI5, blame Mossad, blame the Russians, unless you are going to make the claim Bush and his cohorts leaned on them all to get them to make up crap.

[vimjams]

unless you are going to make the claim Bush and his cohorts leaned on them all to get them to make up crap.

Why not? I make that claim. I think it is pretty well established that Blair and his cronies did that here in the UK. We called it the 'sexed up' dossier. Blair's a liar and a cheat...Why is it so hard to believe Bush is any different.

Blame the secret services you say...That is exactly what Blair and Bush have said. Yet we know that what they the (SS) produced as evidence differed considerably to what we the public were eventually told was 'evidence' by Blair. 'Sexed-up' information is just the nicest way to say ******* lies.

You only have to look at Powell now...Guilt ridden.

Vimjams

Edited November 16, 2004 by vimjams

[twpdyp]

It was my understanding that he took the job of Secretary of State with the understanding that is was for 1 term. His resignation is not a surprise.

[twpdyp]

Bush Taps Rice to Be Secretary of State

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

•Rice Expected to Be Named Secretary of State•

WASHINGTON — President Bush turned to his most trusted foreign policy adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to lead U.S. diplomacy during his second term, replacing Secretary of State Colin Powell, who often was out of step with more hawkish members of the administration's national security team.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138672,00.html

Bio: Condoleezza Rice

Monday, November 15, 2004

WASHINGTON — Key details about National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice:

NAME: Condoleezza Rice.

AGE-BIRTH DATE: 50; Nov. 14, 1954.

BIRTHPLACE: Birmingham, Ala.

EDUCATION: Bachelor of arts, political science, University of Denver, 1974; master of arts, University of Notre Dame, 1975; Ph.D., Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, 1981.

EXPERIENCE: National security adviser, National Security Council, 2001-present; Hoover Senior Fellow and professor of political science, Stanford University, 1981-1999; provost, Stanford University, 1993-99; director-senior director, Soviet and East European Affairs, National Security Council, special assistant to the president for national security affairs, 1989-1991; special assistant to the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1986.

BOOKS: Co-author, "Germany Unified and Europe Transformed," 1995; co-author, "The Gorbachev Era," 1986; author, "Uncertain Allegiance — The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army," 1984.

FAMILY: Single.

QUOTE: "Knowing what we know about the difficulties of our own history, knowing the history of Alabama and Mississippi and Tennessee, we should be humble in singing freedom's praise, but our voice should never waiver in speaking out on the side of those who seek freedom." — Commencement Speech at Vanderbilt University, May 13, 2004.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138659,00.html

Here is the next Secratary of State and in my opinion a good candidate for the republican nomination for president in 2008

[4dplane]

Powell was one of the very few people left in the US that the world trusted. Even after Powell lied to us and the world about Iraq having WMD; the world still had a sense that he was trying to do all that he could to bring some reality into Bush’s limited view of the world. At least it won't be so easy for Bush to lie to world anymore; he has very few people left that anyone trusts.

...and how do you know this? Just a guess?

The people I've spoken to over here regard him as a lying snake. His "evidence" is what the Australian Prime Minister used as a basis for sending our troops into danger to fight a war we had nothing to do with.

358187[/snapback]

Ya, it was pretty bad, Powell in the UN with hugh display screens showing everyone where the WMD were. LOL blatent lies!!!

What I meant is kind of what twpdyp touched on. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz are all Hawks and are all apart of the PNAC. This is an organization set up during the Clinton administration when these three had little work in the US government. Powell on the other hand, is not a Hawk and was never for Invading Iraq. He knew they had nothing to do with 911 and he felt if the US was to invade Iraq, they would need at least 400,000 boots on the ground to secure the country quickly. Well, the Hawks thought this was ridicules and decided to push Powell’s ideas to the side. Powell as a good solder, took it like a man and did what he could do in a room full of wolfs (hawks) to calm their apatite for war. In the end, and I give no excuses, Powell went before the world and lied about Iraq’s WMD, and for this he wrong; but now that Powell is gone, Bush and company are one step closer to total unabridged control of the US and its world policies.

My info on this topic comes from many news sources such as CBC, Deutsche Welle and CNN and a great 90 min episode at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pentagon/view/

Also, this is a great timeline of people like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Powell.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh...pentagon/paths/