Powell shows his true colors

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has sought out former Secretary of State Colin Powell for advice on foreign policy matters.

While Powell served in the administrations of two Republican presidents, he said Sunday it was too early in the 2008 race to say whether he would back the GOP nominee.

"I'm going to support the best person that I can find who will lead this country for the eight years beginning in January of 2009," Powell said.

Powell has never been more than a nominal Republican. His State Department was a constant source of leaks which damaged the Administration's foreign policy. More destructive still was Powell's insistence on playing every last diplomatic card with Europe and the UN before the invasion of Iraq. Long after France had said that they would never, under any circumstances, vote to authorize war and long after it became obvious that Saddam was never going to do anything but play endless games with the international community.

The delay in beginning the invasion of Iraq gave Saddam time to begin organizing resistance cells. Cells which have all been put out of business now, but which bought time, and provided a blueprint, for al Qaeda and Iran to use. Powell's delay also gave Saddam time to move his stocks of chemical weapons and nuclear material out of Iraq and into Syria. Where they sit to this day in warehouses owned by the Syrian government and/or leased by French or German companies with ties to the French and German governments.

It was also a close aid of Powell who was the source of the Valerie Plame leak which spawned the out-of-control independent counsel investigation which is about to put Scotter Libby behind bars. Powell knew that Richard Armitage was the source of the Plame leak yet he sat on his hands and instructed Armitage to sit on his hands while the investigation tore into the heart of the Administration, which was trying to fight a war, and President Bush's numbers sank to new lows daily.

Therefore it is no surprise that Powell would be willing to work with Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton either. I would strongly suspect that if either Democrat is elected in 2008 that there will be a position in their administration for Powell. This would allow them to claim that they are being bipartisan and filling a key position such as Secratary of State or Secratary of Defense with a Republican while not actually being bipartisan and filling a key position with a Republican.