Truespeak

"My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence. I will cite some examples, and these are from human sources."


-Colin Powell
February 5, 2003
Presentation to the UN Security Council
concerning Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction

Oh the tangled webs. I remember when Colin Powell brought credibility to the Bush administration. I remember the talking heads falling all over themselves, fawning at the feet of Secretary Powell. George Bush couldn't have picked a better man for the job, they said. But that was before he became a puppet for the regime. That was before the lies. When given the choice between loyalty to his party or personal integrity, he chose his party. Now his credibility is tarnished.

So you'll have to excuse my skepticism hear things like this:

The United States has intelligence indicating Iran is trying to fit missiles to carry nuclear weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

Powell partially confirmed claims by an Iranian opposition group that Tehran is deceiving the United Nations and is attempting to secretly continue activities meant to give it atomic arms by next year.

"I have seen intelligence which would corroborate what this dissident group is saying," Powell told reporters Wednesday as he traveled to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago, Chile. "And it should be of concern to all parties."

Considering how solid our intelligence turned out to be on Iraq, I have to wonder about the validity of these claims. Everytime I read this, I get the overwhelming sense of deja-vu. The similarities to Iraq are stunning. According to Powell, Iran "had been actively working on delivery systems" capable of carrying a nuclear weapon. Does this sound familiar? It should, because he made a similar claim in his presentation to the Security Council stating, "These are missiles that Iraq wants in order to project power, to threaten, and to deliver chemical, biological and, if we let him, nuclear warheads. " He claims Iran has "a secret nuclear weapons program," and that "for 20 years the Iranians have been trying to hide things from the international community." He even spoke of centrifuges, uranium enrichment and plans for a bomb. And all of this is supported by the word of Iranian dissidents (not to be confused with Iraqi exiles). I feel as though I've fallen into a time warp where all the "q"s have been replaced by "n"s.

So I'm asking myself, could this really be happening again? Are they setting us up for another round? How many times are we going to be able to play the suspected WMD card before the rest of the global community stops paying attention? It would be extremely naive of us to think that our allies aren't going to be a little more cautious this time around. Are we prepared to handle the scrutiny?

For the sake of our country's reputation, Powell had better right this time. Our intelligence, despite no apparent improvements to the system, had better pan out. Another blunder like the one we're currently trying to control in Iraq could destroy our country's credibilty beyond it's already tattered state. I don't want to live in the country known around the world as the nation who cried wolf.