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Colin Powell Resigns
Anarcho-Goth writes "It is all over the media now. Secretary of State Colin Powell has resigned 'effective at your pleasure.' He says that he only planned to hold the position for one term anyway, but I'm sure the rumor mill has other ideas. This makes 6 resignations since the election. My local TV news described it as the most important position to resign so far. Isn't Secretary of State the most important cabinet position, period? Articles from CNN, The UK Guardian, The Associated Press, and Fox News."
This was news last year. More than a year ago he said he would resign after one term. article.
The BBC provides a brief but interesting discussion of the "disengagement of Colin Powell".
Powell's replacement will - I think - send a strong signal about the strategy a Bush 43B administration will pursue.
A moderate (like one of the current favourites for the job, John Danforth, the current US ambassador to the UN... though I don't know enough about him to know if the description is accurate) will imply that there will continue to be a level of debate between the neoconservative and less revolutionary wings of the administration.
On the other hand, appointing someone like Paul Wolfowitz to the job (another name bandied about, along with that of Condoleezza Rice*), will signal a continuation and even escalation of a unilateralist, force-based foreign policy that was pretty much dictated by the Pentagon for the last four years anyway.
(*Not sure how I feel about Rice. I suspect she's not quite as extremist as she's often painted as being. She is - I think - on record as saying she's not interested in remaining in her NSA position and that she's considering a return to academia. She's also a favourite to replace Powell but appears to prefer to take over Defence rather than State. She's a doer, not a talker, and doesn't like all the pomp and ceremony associated with the foreign affairs position.)
a world in progress...
UPDATE: Being reported that National security adviser Condoleezza Rice is to replace Colin Powell as secretary of state in his second term.
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
4 cabinet members, including the Secretary of State, resigned after Clinton was re-elected in 1996. A shakeup in the cabinet is standard operating procedure after an election. The world has changed (a lot) in four years. To think that the same exact people are the best ones for the job doesn't make sense.
Of course, the same thing could have been said about Bush, but we won't go there....
I think you meant "Faux News".
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It means that it was a lot more fun to take over and run a country with a huge budget surplus and a military that is not slogging through a protracted insurgency in a foreign country. Remember the good old days of 2000?
With the treasury plundering complete, and insufficient resources to invade any more countries for the forseeable future, the next 4 years just aren't going to be nearly as much fun as the first 4. So, it's a good time to ditch any responsibility for trying to fix the mess and cash in with some lucrative private sector job, perhaps in lobbying or something else that allows you to convert your legacy government connections to cash.
Mod me -1, Troll, Insightful.
Seriously. I saw the webcast of a speech he gave at Princeton University. It was part of a conference honoring the author of a policy called "Containment", the concept which had guided the United States against the Soviet Union during the cold war... and also the strategy used by Bush and Clinton against Saddam Hussein. Basically, it's less risky to contain the threat than to engage it head-on. It was Orwellian to see him lauding this idea, after (rather defensively) saying that the invasion of Iraq was justified because Saddam Hussein had the "intention" to produce WMD... steadfastly defending the idiocy of Bush's policies to the end. Kinda pathetic. But it seems he's got a military man's idea of honor: do what you're told, as well as you can, and don't question orders, no matter how idiotic and insane.
I can't possibly form any intelligent opinions without spin! But for some reason it is missing. I just need two things explained about all these resignations:
1. The left needs to explain why this is proof that Bush's second term will result in the destruction of life on this and several nearby planets.
2. The right needs to explain why this is proof that Bush's second term is the second coming of Jesus and a new era of enlightenment.
All I'm seeing is reasoning and sensible conjectures! That's no fun! I want assinine extreme examples! Please help!