What are the chances of Powell being charged and convicted of a war crime ?

[steve2470]

Poll question: What are the chances of Powell being charged and convicted of a war crime ?

If you feel energetic, do a post on what you will personally do to make sure he gets locked up at the Hague.

[featherman]

1. Are we still in the real world... or some fantasy world? Makes a difference.

[babylonsister]

2. For what, an opinion? nt

[donheld]

3. Can we finish this election cycle

then worry about the war crimes?

[davidinalameda]

4. what war crime did Powell commit

he was duped along with the rest of us

[cliffordu]

6. That's the question none at DU have really answered....

Yep.

[Solon]

9. OK, that's bullshit right there, were you on DU during the runup to the war?

There were threads demolishing Powell's arguments to the U.N. WHILE it was happening. There was research done by numerous DU members showing that the Bush administration was lying through its teeth. Very few people here, at the time, were for the war, and many of them didn't last long, if you take my meaning. We were able to see through the bullshit, what was Powell's excuse?

[LynnTheDem]

12. Were you duped???

I wasn't.

My husband's 4th ID platoon weren't.

The vast majority of the world wasn't.

Hell, even the majority of Americans said "bUsh hasn't made his case" to invade Iraq re WMD.

How'd you get duped?

[davidinalameda]

19. I can't honestly say that I was

but you had millions of others who believed what the Bushies were selling

[Skip Intro]

14. He wasn't duped - he helped dupe others.

ask the survivors of our freedom bombs who watched their families die about war crimes

[AZBlue]

21. That's exactly what I've been wondering for the past 36 hours.

[TexasObserver]

5. zero

[goodgd_yall]

7. Zero, as it should be

He didn't commit a war crime. YOu know as well as anyone, the real criminals are Cheney, Bush, and Rumsfeld.

[Solon]

8. They are guilty of war crimes, Powell is guilty of the crimes against Peace...

which is a different, though related crime. Since he wasn't in charge of carrying out the war itself, just justifying it with lies, he's complicit in one crime, but not the other. It was a limitation of his office though, not due to any so called honorable actions on his part.

[goodgd_yall]

18. OK

I give you that. But, unfortunately, no one is going to be charged with any crimes in regard to the Iraq invasion. The U.S. is in too powerful a position for that to happen. It would have to come from a strong effort from within the country to make that a possibility. If we don't have the resolve to impeach, there's no way a war crimes tribunal will ever happen.

But aside from that, even though Powell is culpable for his role in the Iraq invasion, he made a thoughtful and pointed endorsement of Obama. He was right on.

[teknomanzer]

10. In the place I live ... REALITY...

not one person in the Bush administration will ever face charges for a war crime. I will not happen. Period. If you think it is even a remote possibility then you need a serious reality check. The public has no will for this to happen and the establishment certainly has no desire for this either. The only judgment Bush and crew will face will be at the hands of historians.

Note: I am NOT saying whether anyone deserves such prosecution or not. I AM saying there is a greater likelihood that the law of gravity will make an exception for me alone and I will instantly fly of the surface of the planet.


Additional note: Yup, still on the ground.

[Solon]

11. This is a nation of men, where some are exempt from accountability, and most aren't...

This isn't a nation of law, after all, we can't hold our leaders or their lackeys RESPONSIBLE, perish the thought!

[Captiosus]

13. Have we ever?

I mean, seriously.

I haven't lived through a president who wasn't accused of war crimes, most of them rightfully so, and nothing ever happened to them or members of their administrations. Christ, people called for Clinton's head on a pike for some shit that happened in Bosnia.

This isn't just a failure of our own government but also a failure of the UN. If these folks are guilty of war crimes, then the UN should be taking them to the Hague.
But they won't. They never have and they never will.

[Solon]

15. You are absolutely right, and that's why I'm as cynical as I am...

we have perhaps the most hypocritical government on the face of the Earth, at least many others are honest about not respecting rule of law, but we pontificate on it as if we actually followed it, yet we don't. Same goes for freedom and democracy, whatever the fuck those mean in the American context.

[Captiosus]

16. Even though I tore into someone elsewhere

It's not because I disagree with Powell's involvement in our current situation.
Powell is just as complicit as Bush, Cheney, Rummy and everyone else in the administration...

But some folks around here hold such hatred that it's almost scary.

[Solon]

17. You have to understand that some people around here lost loved ones in the war...

or knows someone who was...changed, by the war. For them it is quite personal, and frankly I think they are fully justified in their hatred and anger towards Powell. I share the anger, but not necessarily the hatred, though I find Powell to be a contemptible human being, frankly he's just a tool who has been used by those above him since he first wore a uniform. Of course, as he attained rank(and responsibility) he willfully fulfilled this role, with full knowledge that he was a tool. Whether motivated by misdirected patriotism or simply personal ambition, this is who he is.

Colin Powell is a polarizing figure on DU because of the mythos surrounding him, and it is a mythos that frankly I don't understand.

[Occam Bandage]

20. Zero. To think otherwise is nothing but fevered delusion.