To many of us, who remember Colin Powell’s contributions to the US military and diplomatic victory in Desert Storm and its aftermath during the first Bush administration, his service as Secretary of State in the second Bush administration, was oddly surprising.
Who was this man who seemed to be functioning on autopilot when he addressed the UN?
DeYoung put it this way:
“I looked at Powell,” she says, “and saw him behaving in a way that I found puzzling... and the American people (thought puzzling) as well. He was strangely passive.”
DeYoung says that Powell himself expressed disappointment to her about his role in the second Bush Administration over the course of 6 interviews with her.
“He was open about how he thought people in the administration were out to get him,” she says.
He also was frustrated over the Administration’s Mid East and North Korean policy, especially the disinclination to talk with governments and parties with whom we had differences.
About the biggest foreign policy decision of the Bush Administration, the war in Iraq, Powell says that there was never a conversation about whether to go to war in Iraq. It was a given.
Colin Powell is a man of enormous talent and diplomatic skill, a man who has risen to the top of the military pyramid, who has been regarded as a viable presidential candidate, and has even had a political-military doctrine named after him: The Powell Doctrine.
The Powell Doctrine, or strategy, was a product of Powell’s military experience in Vietnam, and the views of Reagan Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.
Its basic tenets are quite simple:
· Going to war should be a last resort,
· Military action should only be undertaken if there is a clear risk to the national security of the United States,
· When US military forces are deployed, our troop numbers and weaponry should be massive and disproportionate,
· There must be clearly defined goals,
· The American public must understand and be committed to these goals, and
· There must also be a clearly defined endgame or exit strategy.
The first Bush Administration followed this strategy in the first gulf war (1990-1991) to great success. Powell had every reason to believe that the second Bush Administration would embrace it as well since presidential candidate George W. Bush had ridiculed the Clinton Administration for its nation-building entanglements.
In the October 12, 2000 televised presidential debate, George W. Bush said that the United States should be “a humble country.”
“I'm not so sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it's got to be. We can help. And maybe it's just our difference in government, the way we view government,” Bush said. “I just don't think it's the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, we do it this way, so should you.”
DeYoung says that Powell was not called upon for foreign policy advice during the 2000 campaign, and that when he agreed to join the Administration, he had not even met George W. Bush.
So just why did Colin Powell agree to join an administration where he seemed to be the odd man out, and where he appeared to be frozen out of the inner sanctum of decision-making?
“Powell is a supremely self-confident person,” DeYoung says. “He had always prevailed in the past, and he underestimated the power that others would have in the administration.”
“Although the US Constitution places the Secretary of State third in succession and above the Secretary of Defense, the reality in the second Bush administration was very different,’” she added.
It wasn’t until after 9-11 that DeYoung got to know Colin Powell when she was a member of the press corps that traveled with the Office of the Secretary of State.
“There are 14 seats in the back of the plane for members of the media,” DeYoung says. “Most are allocated to TV journalists with only a few seats left over for print reporters.”
“Powell didn’t stay in his seat in the front of the plane. He would sing a calypso song and tell stories about his childhood. He was not afraid of journalists or of talking to them.” According to DeYoung, this clearly set him apart from other members of the administration.
“This White House is very hard to cover,” she says. “They are very restrictive about who can talk to the media, and under what circumstances. In order to speak to Condoleezza Rice, I would have to submit a written request for an appointment, and then I could never meet with her alone. There had to be other people present, and the whole thing was recorded by them. I couldn’t even have a phone conversation with her alone. There were always other people on the call.”
What does Powell think of Condoleeza Rice?
“They had a relationship that predated this administration. She was a low-level-staffer during the first Bush Administration. Condi was from Birmingham, Alabama, and his wife, Alma Powell, was also from Birmingham. The families know each other.”
“He liked her, but thought she was a little young to be running the National Security Council. Later, he became frustrated with her because he didn’t think she knew how to organize the NSC properly. He’s a big believer in institutions and systems over ‘loosey-goosey,’ ad hoc, secret meetings. He thinks systems make better policy.”
According to DeYoung, President Bill Clinton tried very hard to get Powell to join his administration because he admired him, and he also feared running against him. “In 1995, Powell’s autobiography book was out, and he was very popular. Everyone was wondering what he was going to do.
“The problem,” DeYoung said, “was first, deciding to do it, and second, getting the nomination.”
“There was no point in trying to run as a Democrat because Clinton would be nominated again, and then, it would be Al Gore.”
“Powell’s experience with Republicans was with Rockefeller Republicans like Frank Carlucci and Richard Armitage. Although the polls showed he could win in the general election, he concluded that he could not get the nomination. Because of his social views, the extreme right wing of the Republican Party would never let him have the nomination.”
“Also, his wife, Alma, who had grown up in Birmingham, Alabama was afraid for his safety, and thought that he was very naïve about the dangers. Alma was also concerned about personal attacks. In the end, even though “he wanted to be president, he knew that the primaries would be very difficult, and that he would not be able to gain the nomination of the Republican Party.”
Powell maintained good relations with Al Gore, “hoping that Gore might ask him to run as Vice President,” DeYoung says. Instead, Gore chose Joe Lieberman, lost a close race, and Colin Powell joined the Bush Administration.
It could plausibly be argued that if Colin Powell had not lent his good name to the Bush Administration policies that took us to war in Iraq, our young men and service women would not be deployed in Iraq today.
If history judges the war to have been a mistake, how will it treat Colin Powell? A reluctant warrior who did all he could, or a man who know better, but was afraid to stand up to others withinn the administration?
In her book, DeYoung shows us a Powell who had risen to the top by being the ultimate staff officer. Neither his temperament nor his history prepared him to confront those above him in the chain of command.
Since leaving the administration, Powell has expressed opposition to some administration policies like the attempt to redefine US obligations under the Geneva Conventions.
Powell remains close to the first President Bush. He is not close to George W. Bush, who — DeYoung says — seems to consider Powell to be of his father’s generation, even though Powell, 69, is in fact closer to the son’s age, 60, than the father’s, 82.
Powell is on very good terms with Senator John McCain, and there is some thought that if McCain gets the Republican Presidential nomination and wins, Powell might consider becoming Secretary of Defense. Whatever the future holds for him, for the country he served, and the people he inspired, something tells me that we haven’t heard the last from Colin Powell.
Copyright 2006 Bobbi McKenna All Rights Reserved
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Karen DeYoung began her career in journalism as a stringer for the “Washington Post” writing from Nigeria. When she moved to Washington, DC, she went to work for the paper in its suburban bureau for one year before going to Latin America as a foreign correspondent. Back in DC again, she became the Foreign Affairs Editor, and is now an assistant editor covering terrorism. She calls the Washington Post a great newspaper to work for because it gives people opportunities.
You can buy a copy of “Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell,” By Karen DeYoung at Amazon.com.
