Colin Powell in four-letter neo-con 'crazies' row

Martin Bright
Sunday September 12, 2004
The Observer

A furious row has broken out over claims in a new book by BBC broadcaster James Naughtie that US Secretary of State Colin Powell described neo-conservatives in the Bush administration as '****ing crazies' during the build-up to war in Iraq.


Powell's extraordinary outburst is alleged to have taken place during a telephone conversation with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. The two became close friends during the intense negotiations in the summer of 2002 to build an international coalition for intervention via the United Nations. The 'crazies' are said to be Vice-President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz.


Last week, the offices of Powell and Straw contacted Public Affairs, the US publishers of Naughtie's book, to say they would vigorously deny the claims if publication went ahead. But as no legal action was threatened, the US launch of the book, The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency, will proceed as planned this week. Naughtie stands by his claims and is said to be privately delighted that Powell and Straw have reacted so violently to the suggestion that the former US general had fallen out with the 'neo-cons'.


Provocatively, the phrase '****ing crazies' will be quoted on the jacket of the book, according to a source at the publisher. 'We were surprised to receive calls from the offices of Jack Straw and Colin Powell within 24 hours of each other,' the source said. Naughtie claims that Powell and Straw spoke on an almost daily basis. Powell's concerns were said to have chimed with Straw's and those of Blair himself - that if America acted without UN sanction, allies would be lost.


Cheney and his allies were preparing for a spring war and did not wish to be deflected by the UN inspection process. Powell is thought to have been terrified that the strategy of the 'crazies' would alienate the Blair government, which believed it needed UN backing to win over Parliament and the British public.


John Kampfner, political editor of the New Statesman and author of Blair's Wars, said Naughtie's characterisation of the feverish political atmosphere of the summer of 2002 was entirely accurate. 'The British government saw Powell as the most significant voice of sanity in the US administration. At different times during this very difficult period, the Brits used Powell to get across their point of view to the White House. But, bizarrely, Powell sometimes also used Blair to pass messages to Bush.'
Kampfner's book, which covers the Blair government's military adventures in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, reported that in July 2002 Blair sent his foreign policy adviser David Manning on a secret mission to Washington to deliver a letter hinting that, without a second UN resolution, Britain would not be able to join a war in Iraq.

Jus imagine people like Beyance, LL cool J, Jay z, Jordan, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, all the Jacksons, Oprah Winfrey, Mike Tyson, Bill Cosby,

AND A LOT MORE MILLIONAIRE BLACKS DO JUST THAT FOR THE SAKE OF OUR BLACK PEOPLE.clp)clp)clp)clp)clp)

WE COULD MOVE MOUNTAIN....FORGIVE ME IF I MENTIONED ANY NAMES THAT ARE ALREADY DOING THAT.


Michael Jackson screw around with all these white people, then move on to pay out millions in compensation to them...for just spending his time waisting their "valuable time"

he should use some of those millions to set up project and bussiness, and get black managers to run and employ blacks, sometimes when you think about these things it makes your heart bleed to see how some blacks can be so stupid even when they got the handle of the knife.

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I HEARD ON CNN THAT LATINOS HAVE OVERTAKEN BLACKS AS THE LARGEST POPULATED MINORITY IN THE U.S.A. ACCORDING TO THE CNN, THE LATINO POPULATION IN AMERICA HAS REACHED 39 MILLION. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS? PERSONALLY I FEEL THREATENED AS A BLACK PERSONAND NOT SURE IF I AM ALONE.

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first and foremost, demographics can be a great source of power for a minority if they can channel their efforts effectively. it may be interesting to see figures on the financial status of latinos in the states to see if there has been progress in this as well as on simple population numbers. if they can combine both factors then the future is theirs.in some states the majority of the population will be latino sometime in the near future and that can swing an election.

having seen the film fahrenheit 911 and the way that black americans were disenfranchised in the ballot. then insult was added to injurywhen the resultant pleas to senators were ignored, the latino vote may be a way for the gop to get around the black vote. there may arrive a time when the black vote will no longer be soughtby either party with any great vigour as the democrats have taken it for granted and the gop realise that they don't need it that much. if this happens the black population will be seriously affected in economics, politics and socially.

Oops

USA Homeland Security estimate that 2-3 million illegal immigrants cross the mexican border annually. As most of these are latinos it's no wonder they are now the largest minority in America. Even the "babyfather" birth rate cannot compete with that so the trend looks set to continue.

I believe the Mexicans are trying to reclaim lost land without firing a bullet. Perhaps an american can answer this - How come neither political party seems interested in protecting the Southern Border from this illegal immigration (esp. when there is a war on terrorism)?

BAC

having a large population doesnt really mean you are suddenly gonna take over. anyway some of these latinos are white latinos, black latinos and mestizos and i think if you remove the black latinos, the white latinos and all the illegal immigrants(which is probably all mexicans) i think you will find the black population is still the highest.

dont worry about latinos, lets concentrate on the blacks, the african american population is also rising fast, they are gaining more in terms of politics businesses sports and almost have a monopoly in music, so we aint goin' no where. peaceniceone.gif

As a black American, I don't feel threatened by the fact there are more latinos than African-Americans in this country. Just asJohnny said, latinos can be of any race: black latino (like black Cuban-American actress Gina Torres, who's Lawrence Fishburne's wife), mestizo latino (like musician Carlos Santana), white latino (like actress Cameron Diaz), and some mixture of some or all of those races (like Jennifer Lopez). So it's really a matter of skewing numbers and data. If youtook black and white latinos out of the accounting, non-latino blacks would still be the largest minority group.

I don't feel like they are taking anything away from me, because the vast majority of them are pretty much going through a lot of the same struggles asAAs are. Also they still have a lot of catching up to do as far gaining political and economicpower. Yes there are some racial tensions between some latinos and African-Americans, mostly from some (but not all) Mexicans, Salvadorans, and white Cubans in South Florida. But people need to realize that not all latinos areunited as a racial/ethnic group, only united by a common language. Latinos have their own inter-ethnic issues to deal with. I've worked with Mexicans who've bad-mouthed Puerto Ricans, my mother worked with a white Cuban woman who's Mexican brother-in-law left her sister, because she didn't "understand his culture".

Cuban-Americans, especially those in South Florida, most ofwhom arewhite (or at least consider themselves to be white) tend to vote Republican because of the GOP's strong opposition to Cuba's communist leader, Fidel Castro.

Mexican-Americans who are mainly mestizo, who make up the majority of latinos in the US and reside mainly in the Southwest, tend to vote Democrat. Many did vote for George Bush because Bush claimed to be a "compassionate conservative" and speaks (rather mangled) Spanish. Not to mention Bush's brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, is married to a Mexican woman. Pres Bush's immigration policies may prove to turn the Mexican-American voting tide against him.

Puerto Ricans, Panamanians,and Dominicans, who reside mainly in New York and New Jersey, tend to vote Democratic as well. Also, their particularlatin culture has strong African cultural roots