February 03, 2003

TIME IS RUNNING OUT:
We Will Not Shrink From War

Iraq has flouted the will of the world with its deceptions and empty claims.

[...]President Bush's message has been clear from the beginning. The President eloquently and persuasively set forth the U.S. position at the U.N. on Sept. 12: A peaceful outcome to this situation is possible if Iraq cooperates with the U.N. and disarms. Unfortunately, Saddam seems to be leading his nation down another path. The U.S. seeks Iraq's peaceful disarmament. But we will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.

I quoted only the final paragraph, so do read the whole thing for yourself.
This is running in today's (Monday's) WSJ Opinion Journal so that no-one miscontrues SoS Powell's position on the matter.
As an aside, I'd like to note here that one of the things that Nelson Mandela was babbling about last week was that the Bush Administration "discounted" Kofi Annan of the UN because he was black, so what's Mandela's excuse for ignoring the judgement of his "brother" Colin? Hmmmm?
(This holier-than-thou racist "inclusiveness" goes for the Dimocrats,too. The same week that the Dims were blasting Trent Lott and the G.O.P. as "rascist," the American public was hanging on Powell's every word, as is only proper for a nation at war to heed the Secretary of State's reports in tense negotiations. But no-one pointed out that obvious disconnect of the Liberal Left, i.e. that Colin Powell--a black man--held a position of great power, second only to the President, in a GOP Administration and had been appointed to that position for his abilities, experience, knowledge and judgement, not to "fill out" a "diverse for diversity's sake" Cabinet, like Jocelyn Elders or Ron Brown (RIP) in the -ahem!-previous administration of that "he's black, but he's white" president.
Actually, this phenomenon of giving Powell's actions and words importance and attention is a very good thing: many Americans, including myself, don't see SoS Powell as a "black man" first and foremost. We see him for himself. And I think the same thing could be said for Dr. Condi Rice. I "forget" that these people are "black." They're themselves, above all, and as the younger people say, "They rule." And that's what racial equality is all about, isn't it? It's about just simply being able to get past the single characteristic of a person's race or skin color and accepting and relating to them on their own merits.)
So, bottom line?
If Powell, the reputed peacenik, dove and coolest head of the Bush Administration says we're going to war, you can just about take it to the bank.