Unfortunately, there are no do-overs in war. Invading a nation is an extreme example of the concept of not being able to un-ring the bell. If we invaded Iraq to prevent Saddam Hussein from attacking the United States, or territories vital to our national interests, then Secretary Powell has just announced to the world, and more importantly to the America people, that it was a mistake--a very costly one, in lives, money, diplomatic capital, and credibility.
It will be said, however, that WMD wasn't the real reason, only an excuse, that a stable democracy in the center of the Middle East was the noble motivation for invading a sovereign nation. That is an increasingly tough sell also, since the situation in Iraq is rapidly moving towards a state of longterm chaos and civil war. Nation building should be a forever tainted notion if and when we are able to get out of this godawful mess. I can only imagine how I would feel today if my son had given his "last full measure of devotion" in Bush's misadventure in Biblical tit-for-tat with the "evil-doers."
WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said for the first time on Sunday that he now believes that the Central Intelligence Agency was deliberately misled about evidence that Saddam Hussein was developing unconventional weapons.
He also said, in his comments on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," that he regrets citing evidence that Iraq had mobile biological laboratories in his presentation to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003.
The assertion about the mobile labs was one of the most dramatic pieces of the presentation, which was intended to make public the Bush administration's best case for invading Iraq. For days before his speech, Mr. Powell sat in a conference room at the C.I.A., examining the sources for each charge he planned to make. ...
On Sunday, Mr. Powell hinted at widespread reports of fabrications by an engineer who provided much of the most critical information about the labs. Intelligence officials have since found that the engineer was linked to the Iraqi National Congress, an exile group that was pressing President Bush to unseat Mr. Hussein.
"It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading," Mr. Powell said in the interview, broadcast from Jordan. "And for that, I am disappointed and I regret it."
That was a sharp contrast to comments four months ago by Vice President Dick Cheney, who said the administration still believed that the trailers were part of a program of unconventional weapons, and added that he "would deem that conclusive evidence" that Mr. Hussein in fact had such programs. ...
Taken with past admissions of error by the administration or its intelligence agencies, Mr. Powell's statement on Sunday leaves little room for the administration to argue that Mr. Hussein's stockpiles of unconventional weapons posed any real and imminent threat.
"Basically, Powell now believes that the Iraqis had chemical weapons, and that was it," said an official close to him. "And he is out there publicly saying this now because he doesn't want a legacy as the man who made up stories to provide the president with cover to go to war."
