Unmasking Colin Powell

I mentioned some of Chris Floyd's comments on Iraq a few days ago. Apparently, I missed his equally hard-hitting commentary on Colin Powell from Counterpunch about two weeks ago:

[Powell] has long been regarded by the "serious" media on both sides of the Atlantic as a "moderate" maverick on Bush's hard-right team. Liberal commentators praise Powell as a "restraining influence" on more bellicose insiders like Cheney and Rumsfeld, and a wise, guiding hand for a president unschooled in the subtleties of world diplomacy.

It's all a sham, of course. Powell is nothing more than a lifelong bagman for powerful interests. His willingness to play ball, to look the other way, has made him a convenient tool for the some of the most violent and undemocratic forces ever to pollute American society.

...He's never made a public moral stand against any hard-right lunacy advocated by his bosses and their cronies. He just follows orders. He's a General Jodl for the 21st century.

Like Floyd, I never really understood the Powell mystique, especially amongst liberal whites. For the underbelly of Powell's personal history, check out the series of articles on "Colin Powell's Legend" at Consortium News.