Powell criticises authorities

[stormbind]

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said he fails to understand why better preparations were not made before Hurricane Katrina struck.
Two-thirds of Americans think President George W Bush could have done more to tackle the floods and damage in the south, one opinion poll suggests.

One member of Mr Bush's staff said such allegations "broke his heart".

With New Orleans still not completely evacuated, its police chief warned that to stay would be "suicidal".

...

There were "a lot of failures at a lot of levels - local, state and federal", Mr Powell told ABC.

"There was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans - not enough was done," he said.

Mr Powell's views will be heard with particular interest as he is a highly respected figure and a prominent black American, the BBC's Justin Webb reports from Washington.

The Pew Research Center, which ran the new opinion poll, also indicated that two-thirds of the African-Americans questioned believed the government reaction would have been faster if most of those affected had been white.

But Mr Powell said so many African-Americans were left unprotected be cause they were poor, rather than because they were black.

It "should have been a blinding flash of the obvious... that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own", he said.

Debate still rages in Washington into how independent the inquiries being launched into Katrina - led by President Bush himself and the Senate - will really be.

Click here for full report. The above text was reduced due to my short attention span

 

[Speedo]

God Bless that man.

I really hope he runs for Pres. in '08.

 

[Cuivienen]

He'd never get the nomination from the Republicans (too "liberal," like McCain), and Hillary is a foregone conclusion for the Democrats (which he could realistically defect to). It's a pity that he won't run, though. If he ran for the Republicans, Hillary would have to put up a great campaign for me to not defect and vote for him over her.


Powell is great. He was good about not criticizing the administration while he was a part of it, but it was always obvious that he didn't approve. And now, of course, he can speak his mind about the situation.

 

[Sparta]

I don't think Powell will run either - there was a bit of that interview in which his wife essentially responded with (paraphrased) "I'd support him if he did [run], but I trust that he's not going to", and Colin Powell basically affirmed both that statement and his disinterest in political offices in general. It's too bad; he does seem like a good person. Maybe that's what fuels his disinterest in politics in the first place.

 

[stormbind]

Disinterest probably reflects a frustration in being unable to change the minds of peers. He escaped before Bush could drive him completely insane

 

[WillJ]

God Bless that man.

I really hope he runs for Pres. in '08.

My feelings as well, although we all know it's probably not going to happen.

 

[Ramius75]

He is one of the more respected man from the Bush"s cabinet, too bad he has to relate with the reputation of Bush.... and his speech in the UN on the WMD will forever be a blot in his life... sad case....

Bush should have send Condi to do the lying, or Rumsfield...

 

[frekk]

That's sad. If he would run and get elected, he could be one of your better Presidents. Instead you will likely end up with yet another shallow incompetent. You're having a pretty good run on those lately (not that any of the rest of us are any different).

It's a sad day when people with the potential to be great are too disgusted with the process to participate.

 

[anarres]

You realise the man is black? It simply unthinkable he could get the support of the party or even it's supporters...

 

[sysyphus]

You realise the man is black? It simply unthinkable he could get the support of the party or even it's supporters...

I dunno, if it's a tight race, running a black candidate is surely one way to pull votes away from the Democrats.

 

[Cuivienen]

I don't think race would be a large factor in the Republican Party choosing its candidate. Their real problem with Powell would be that he is too "liberal" on many issues - liberal enough that the Christian right (calling them the religious right is a stupid euphemism, IMO) would split off and run their own candidate, destroying any chances for the Republican Party that election.

 

[BloodyPepperoni]

You realise the man is black? It simply unthinkable he could get the support of the party or even it's supporters...

Yeah, but he has a part of European ancestry, plus he his married with kids. We are not talking about Condi Rice for example, a single black woman with no kids that has absolutely 0% chances of being a Republican nominee.

 

[blindside]

Republicans absolutely love Condi. I wouldn't be surprised if they push her to run.

 

[BloodyPepperoni]

Yeah, they would support her if Rudy Guiliani declined to run, for example

 

[frekk]

Republicans absolutely love Condi. I wouldn't be surprised if they push her to run.

That would be weird ... Condi vs Hillary.

 

[sysyphus]

Would probably make the ugliest cat fight of all time.

 

[stormbind]

That would be weird ... Condi vs Hillary.

The wold-view of Ms. Lice deeply offends non-Amelicans.

 

[DiamanteLouco]

Wow, I didn´t think that you people liked Powell, as a non-american I always tought he was "another bush minion who loves war and wants to destroy the human race", didn´t think he was considered a decent human...

 

[greekguy]

maybe McCain and Powell should leave the rep. party and start one by themselves. since they are mostly moderate compared to the 2 major parties, they may have a shot of winning...

 

[Milan's Warrior]

Powell has a good reputation but I am concerned with his stance against gays in the military.