White House: Colin Powell Is Confused

Wow, the spinners at the White House don't waste any time. Is there anybody left in the United States or the world that they won't try to smear? It's obvious that the White House is in full panic attack as Bush's failed presidency heads for the rocks under full steam. The losers? America. Staying the course is not an option. It's time to bring order and common sense back to Washington.

Dan Froomkin of White House Briefing has the story on Tony Snow's spin on Colin Powell:

"Q So do you think that Colin Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is just confused about what you're trying to do?

"MR. SNOW: Yes."

And later on came this exchange:

"Q But, yes, Colin Powell, what about his larger point, that the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis for the war on terror?

"MR. SNOW: I don't think so. Look at what happened on Sept. 11th. You had Jacques Chirac sending regards this week. We've had a number of other people."

So America still maintains its moral basis for the war because Jacques Chirac sent a sympathy note about Sept. 11?

It gets tiresome that the White House just feels free to lie outright because Chirac decides to be a statesman by sending a sympathy note. Here's the French position as reported on the CNN website on Sept. 7:

France issued an implicit criticism of U.S. foreign policy on Thursday, rejecting talk of a "war on terror."

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking in parliament, expressed these views on global terrorism, while President Jacques Chirac backed France's claims to the international front rank with a fresh defense of his country's nuclear arsenal.

De Villepin noted Chirac's strong opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and said the Arab state had now sunk into violence and was feeding new regional crises.

"Let us not forget that these crises play into the hands of all extremists," the prime minister said in a debate on the Middle East. "We can see this with terrorism, whether it tries to strike inside or outside our frontiers," he added.

"Against terrorism, what's needed is not a war. It is, as France has done for many years, a determined fight based on vigilance at all times and effective cooperation with our partners.

(snip)

Villepin's speech in parliament made much of France's leading role in securing a peace agreement in Lebanon backed by the United Nations, which he said had shown the virtues of "listening and dialogue."

"It is the duty of France and Europe to show that the clash of civilizations is not inevitable," he said. "No one retains this wisdom, inherited from our history, as we, French and Europeans, do," he said.

That sounds like a rejection of both Bush's policy and fearmongering to me. And it sounds like Colin Powell knows what he's talking about. The credibility of the Bush White House can hardly sink any lower.