Powell & Myers Dismiss Report on Iraq Decision

[Dover]

Friday September 5, 10:44 AM

Powell, Myers dismiss report on Iraq decision

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday dismissed as "total fiction" a newspaper report suggesting that he and the U.S. military Joint Chiefs of Staff together persuaded the White House to seek a U.N. resolution to bring more international troops to Iraq.
The chairman of the joint chiefs, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, also called a meeting with reporters to flatly deny he had gone behind Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's back or lined up with Powell to undercut Rumsfeld on the issue.

The Washington Post said Powell told U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday the military brass joined him in supporting the idea of a U.N. resolution to authorize a multinational force despite resistance by the Pentagon's civilian leaders.

The newspaper did not explicitly say Powell and the joint chiefs conspired to outflank Rumsfeld but it suggested the top officers' decision that more foreign troops were needed was the key to persuading the White House to change strategy....>>

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030905/3/13xmy.html

[lanlady]

1. I knew there was something fishy about that story

Not that I believe Powell's and Myers' denials, but there's a je ne sais quoi going on with that Post story. Something's up, and it's big. A coup?

[bemildred]

2. Rum Dum is in the doghouse.

The rest is about presenting the pResident as a neutral
arbiter, above it all, as opposed to being responsible
for the mess.

[robbedvoter]

3. Wolfowitz wants credit on this one (and bushco, obviously):

Wolfowitz says U.S. wanted U.N. resolution since fall of Baghdad
By Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press, 9/4/2003 20:23
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/247/wash/Wolfowitz_says_U_S_wanted_U_N_:.shtml

WASHINGTON (AP) The bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad was ''a
breakthrough, a sad one''

[Starpass]

4. Pentagon brass have been against Rummy for quite some time

..and so has Powell--thus leaks that came out numerous times and bush going apeshit over them. Myers does not like Rummy and thinks Bush is crazy but has been stuck in the middle of this shit.

[Barrett808]

5. I'm tempted to judge the truth of the story by the intensity of the denial

And by that standard, the story must be dead-on.