Why Iraq? Part 2

In the Iraq fiasco, one of the most tragic figures is surely Colin Powell. By no means a member of the warmongering neoconservative cabal, Powell was nonetheless given the ignominious task of presenting pro-war "intelligence," largely false, to the UN and the world on February 5, 2003. George Packer ("The Assassins' Gate" p. 444-445) describes Powell's goodbye meeting with President Bush in January 2005, when Powell "decided to speak his mind without constraint. The Defense Department had too much power in shaping foreign policy," he said, and as an example he specifically pinpointed "the department's number three official, Douglas Feith, whom Powell called a card-carrying member of the Likud Party."