At Least Powell Tried

Elsewhere, I have criticized US Secretary of State Colin Powell for his role in the road to war in Iraq.  But in all fairness, one has to acknowledge that at least Powell tried to do the right thing.  It has recently been reported that, prior to giving his now infamous speech to the UN laying out the intelligence support for the administrations claims, the State Department did a detailed analysis of every point in the speech to decide how reliable each was.  Many claims listed in the original draft of the secretary's speech were removed.  "The analysts, describing many of the claims as 'weak' and assigning grades to arguments on a 5-star scale, warned Powell against making an array of allegations they deemed implausible. They also warned against including Iraqi communications intercepts they deemed ambiguous and against speculating that terrorists might 'come through Baghdad and pick-up biological weapons' as if they were stocked on store shelves. "
 
In the end, Powell chose to include several disputed points in his speech, and the State Department analysts did not challenge some claims that were later found to be based on suspect intelligence.  But at least someone in the administration was making a strenuous effort to critique the information being presented.  We never hear of meetings with the president "described as sessions marked by heated arguments over what to include."  The president just accepted what he was told, because he liked the answer.  Most around him did the same thing. Secretary Powell recognized his responsibilities and did his best to do his job and to serve his country.  We have to acknowledge this and give the man his credit.