Colin Powell Speaks...Again

I actually like Colin Powell for the most part but despite being cast as the prototypical stolid reticent general the man talks more than a twelve year old girl with her own phone (just ask Bob Woodward). First there is his interview with Barbara Walters in which he confesses that the memory of his speech before the UN is "painful." Apparently he implies that the US did not go in with enough troops to Iraq. He also does not like being lied to by intelligence agency types. He blames them for his speech at the UN. His account however does not gibe with that of his trusted deputy Richard Armitage. Armitage claimed that Powell showed up with a messy sheaf of papers containing intelligence and said that they had to make a speech out of it. The picture that Powell draws is of him sitting at CIA getting lied to as he gathers info. I was going to post this story anyway but I have to hat-tip IJ who also brought it to my attention.

Powell is also angling for the reconstruction czar job in New Orleans. Like any good (political) soldier he is going to point out someone's shortcomings, make a couple of suggestions and wait to get drafted.