161–170 of 236 posts
If there's one thing I hope we learn from him, it should be "never lie to support starting a war"
Let's also not forget that he was not alone to push for the war. For younger people out there, the New York Times, of all media sources, was warmongering from Day 1.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll read a hagiographical obit on colon powel and his ilk as soon as the NYT and CNN start publishing individual obits and special coverage of every single innocent child they killed in the middle east. otherwise i don't care about murderous trash like him, like at all.
[You have a typo in the name.]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is not a war crime. Keep in mind that the Allies lied about all kinds of things during WWII in order to legitimize our involvement, and that we killed millions of people during the war. Countries always lie about war and people always die in war, those are just facts.
Yes, the Allies comitted war crimes in WWII, i don't see how that matters for modern war criminals. Conspiracy against peace is a real war crime, including in the US.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that really the standard for calling someone a war criminal? National leaders always lie about the reasons for war, whether they are the attackers or the defenders. No doubt that Colin Powell did the wrong thing when he lied to the UN, but let's not throw around the term "war criminal" to mean "someone who did the wrong thing."
And that' a war crime, specifically "crime against peace". A really cut and dry case of war criminal. Too bad he didn't face trial and spend any time in prison.
I see many people here hating on Colin Powell and perhaps there is cause for that. In my opinion though, I will remember him an uncommonly principled man. Did he have party loyalties? Sure. Did they sometimes conflict with his personal views? Sure. I'll admit that there were some disappointments. However, his ultimate ability to break with powerful past loyalties that conflicted with his personal views and to speak p…
War-making is a bipartisan cause. Those against war are considered extreme and fringe
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was 17 when we invaded Afghanistan and 19 when we invaded Iraq. Through the lead-up to both of those conflicts I remember watching scores of demonstrators marching outside the White House, chanting slogans against the wars. What did they know that Colin Powell did not?
> What did they know that Colin Powell did not? Rhetorical question? WRT Iraq, it was public knowledge that: a) Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, indeed Iraq and al Qaeda were idealogical opponents. b) Iraq had no "weapons of mass destruction"; cite Hans Blix, others. c) Iraqi leader Hussein had completely capitulated, meaning GWB had effectively won without firing a single shot. d) Bush Admin and their sources were…
> Many pointed out the advocates for invading Iraq, mostly the neo-cons
Don’t forget Biden who ultimately co signed the act.
This is one of many obituary posts on HN I've seen a ton of hate and accusations on, along with questions like "why does everyone venerate the dead regardless of their acts in life?" Some of us have a different threshold than others for at what point a life is valuable, and the loss of that life tragic. While there can be a time and place for discussions of the 2003 UN performance, calling someone a war criminal, rag…
Original title: "Colin Powell, military leader and first Black US secretary of state, dies after complications from Covid-19" From the article: > "We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," they said, noting he was fully vaccinated. The ongoing high profile, fatal breakthrough Covid-19 cases should not be underestimated. They are to be expected statistically, but taken in…
I hate that phrase: "They are to be expected" I expect better. I expect a vaccine that would have saved Colin's life.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll read a hagiographical obit on colon powel and his ilk as soon as the NYT and CNN start publishing individual obits and special coverage of every single innocent child they killed in the middle east. otherwise i don't care about murderous trash like him, like at all.
That's exactly the point, putting aside your vitriol! If you don't care, then just don't open the thread or comment on it. Start another thread sometime based on the events you actually want everyone to discuss. Nobody is gaining anything from reading it, and many of us value life, and respect death, to a different degree.
We disagree with your stance, which you seem unable to deal with. That is your problem, we will not go away.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You would have been 7 when Desert Storm happened, then. Desert Storm is an episode that will probably be classified as a historical anomaly in hindsight, but in 2001, it was our most recent large-scale military action. Desert Storm was limited, focused, and... wait for the 1990s SNL joke you might be too young to remember... "prudent." Whether it was a good idea or not, whether it accomplished anything positive or no…
I wrote a different comment, then re-read your comment above, and deleted my original reply. All I can say is that I thought about Desert Storm when I wrote my original comment. I may have been 7 or whatever, but I did grow up in the period after Desert Storm and I remember clearly how infallible American military might was thought to be in popular opinion. > That's probably what Colin Powell was counting on. God kno…
That's a fair question. My first reason was that Powell was in the State Department under W, and the State Department has a more skeptical attitude towards our military capabilities than the military itself does. My second reason, which may be wrong-headed, was that I assumed that the military tendency to misrepresent situations in an optimistic way comes from their desire to do the job. I.e., they say fighting will succeed because it's their job and they want to do it, and then when it isn't going well, they say it's going great because they want to prove that they can do it. Just like a developer downplays the complexity of a challenging project because they're excited about tackling it, and when they get in over their head, they won't admit it because they don't want the project cancelled before they can complete it, no matter how long it takes. (Like that, except with killing.) Since Colin Powell wouldn't be responsible for directing the invasions as a general, I didn't think he would be influenced by that aspect.
EDIT: I think in retrospect what I didn't understand about the Gulf War was that some people viscerally loathed the lessons of Vietnam, hated the idea that the U.S. military could be "defeated," and chose to interpret the Gulf War not as a vindication of applying the lessons of Vietnam, but as proof that the lessons of Vietnam no longer applied. Your comment about the infallibility of American military might reminded me of that.