Searching For Colin Powell

People think the field is all jokes and sarcasm. But sometimes in the true spirit of journalism, the field gets serious and attempts to do some real investigative work. (Like the time I interviewed frat boy for instance) So anyway, with the mid term elections fast approaching, and the politicians preparing to get back to Washington. The field was thinking about just what a mess we are in with this Iraq war situation. If the GOP loses the house or the senate; they will have frat boy and his 36% approval rating and an unpopular war to thank for it. And given the countries mood right now, I can see the GOP going down, kind of like the democrats did in 1994 when Newt's revolution took them out.

So as I sit here thinking about this very unpopular war, and all the s#$% it has stirred up. I start to think about my homey Colin. (Yes he is my homey because his parents, like the fields, are Jamaican) Colin Powell, remember him? He was the guy that was going to be the first black president. Straight out of central casting for the role too. If ever white folks were going to vote for a black man to be president it was Colin. And they weren't afraid to show it. Poll after poll showed that if he were to run, regardless of who he ran against, the good general would win. According to white folks, he spoke well, (Don't you love that one, like someone can get to be a five star general by speaking ebonics) He was so handsome and distinguished (Translated light skinned non threatening), and he embodied all the great American values that we so love: Hard work, pulling yourself up, and putting God and country first.

And he has all the right credentials too: National Security Advisor, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of State. According to Wikipedia, he was the highest ranking non-Caucasian government official in American history. He is, or was, the poster boy for the republican party and the U.S. Army, representing what can be achieved in America through hard work. Now that's impressive!

So after all that, I am thinking, just where the f%#@ has he been lately? Trust me, if he wasn't my homey I wouldn't care. But somehow it doesn't feel right what happened to Colin, and I think it's been sad to see someone fall so far so fast. I suspect that it all has something to do with this war we have going in Iraq right now.

Anyway, the field has been searching all over for the good General to get his side of the story, but with no luck. Finally, I caught a break. I hooked up with some yawdies who knew where the general was hiding out on the rock. (It seems my man went back to the land of his roots to hide out, and clear his head) So anyway, after a flight down to Mo-Bay on the "love bird" (That's Air Jamaica for all of you who aren't in the know) , I hooked up with my man Spragger Ranks, who promised to drive me to the parish of St. Ann to find where the the good general was hiding out these days.

So after about three hours on the winding Jamaican roads and into the hills and mountains of St. Ann's parish. We finally enter a Rastafarian compound hidden and tucked away in the side of the mountain. For those of you familiar with the rock, we are about a thirty minute drive from a town called Runaway Bay. (How ironic is that?)

OK, so we enter the compound, and my man Marley is blasting on the sound system. "Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior, is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned every where is war..." damn I am thinking, this is some appropriate sh#%, they are playing "War" from the "Rastaman Vibration" album. Dreads are everywhere, fruits on the table, and the unmistakable smell of the St. Ann collie weed is in the air. Over in a corner, seated by a picture of Haile Sellasie, is the man I came to see. Obviously deep in thought and reflection, I hardly recognize him. He looked a lot smaller, his skin was a lot darker, and his hair was growing out. Spragger Ranks told me it was cool, so I headed over to where the general was sitting, introduced myself, turned on my tape recorder, and started my interview.

FN: Hi general, my name is field-negro, I came to interview you for my blog. Spragger and some of the boys said it was cool. That you would talk to me since we are both yawdies, and you want the folks in the fields to know how you really feel about all the sh#* that's been going on with you.
CP: Yeah field it's cool I heard you were coming. I am just a little messed up right now, the way this whole Iraq thing went down. I have a lot on my conscience and on my mind these days.
FN: I can't say I blame you with the war going the way it is. What is it now, 2,652 American troops dead, and over 19,000 injured so far. Not to mention over 45,000 dead Iraqi civilians, and almost 500 billion dollars in tax payer's money.
CP: Hey field, you don't have to remind me, I know it's bad. I can't even stand to watch the news anymore. That's one reason I came down here, for some peace and quite.. and.. " every where is war me se war" Hey you guys turn off that sh%*. Damn Marley all day long that's all they play in this place.
FN:Wasn't Bob Marley born in this parish?
CP:Yeah, I think he was. Damn field, you are pretty up on your history.
FN: Well speaking of history, I want you to watch this clip on my little video camera. This was you at the U.N. on February 5, 2003, making a case for the war in Iraq:

"This is important day for all as we review the situation with respect to Iraq and its disarmament obligations under U.N. Security Resolution 1441....Last November 8, this council passed Resolution 1441 by a unanimous vote. the purpose of that resolution was to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has already been found guilty of material breach of its obligations, starting back over 16 previous resolutions and 12 years..."

FN:Should I keep playing it, you don't look so good.
CP: Yeah field, go on, I will be fine.
FN: OK if you insist.

"I might add at this point that we are providing all relevant information we can to the inspection teams for them to do their work. The material I will present to you came from a variety of sources. Some are U.S. sources. And some are those of other countries. Some of the sources are technical, such as intercepted telephone conversations and photos taken by satellites. Other sources are people who have risked their lives to let the world know what Saddam Hussein is really up to. I cannot tell you everything that we know, but what I can share with you, when combined with what all of use have learned over the years, is deeply troubling..."

CP:Stop! That's enough field, I can't look at that anymore. It was all lies, intel that was cherry picked to make a case for war. I mean I can't believe I let those little weenies in the White House play me like this. They knew how popular I was, and they knew that if I sold this war, the American people would buy it, hook, line, and sinker. I am telling you field, the intel crap they gave me, looked like a damn Chinese menu. You could just pick what you want from it.
FN: Well, it looked like it worked general.
CP: Please, call me Colin, I don't feel like a general anymore. A real general would have stood up to those chicken hawk neo cons and told them the real cost of war. A real general would not have allowed almost 3,000 fine American young men to give their lives for an unnecessary war. Pretending to defend freedom, when in truth, they were defending a political strategy to hold on to power for this bunch, and their defense contractor friends.
FN: Colin, one of your former aides, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, says that you told him that the speech at the U.N. was the lowest point in your life, is that true?
CP: Yeah it's true.
FN: He said you spent four days and nights locked in the CIA conference room leading up to that speech. And that George Tenet was there, and he expressed some reservations about the intel that they were giving you for the speech. Is that true Colin?
CP: Yeah it's true. And that's when they gave me that crap that looked like a Chinese menu.
FN: And didn't David Kay say that one of the sources you quoted in your speech to the U.N. was a lier and a fabricator. His words sir.
CP: Yeah field you are right about that too. Hey, do you think the American people know all of this?
FN: Yes Colin I think they do, more than you think. More and more people are saying the war was unnecessary and has no connection to 911, or the war on terror.
CP: So then I good out in time then huh? I mean are people associating me with this bunch?
FN: Yeah Colin, I would pretty much say they are. I mean the republicans don't like you anymore, because they think you came out against the president, and democrats don't like you because they think you were less than honorable with the entire lead up to the war fiasco. And the most important people, those in the middle, who would have pulled the lever for you for president before. Now see you as a political opportunist just like the other folks in Washington.
CP: Yeah but, I mean I wasn't that definitive about the war was I? I mean I did leave some wiggle room in case we decided not to attack.
FN: Well not actually Colin, here I Will play some more tape for you. This is you at the U.N, again.

"We have no indication that Saddam has ever abandoned his nuclear weapons program.
Saddam already possesses two out of three key components needed to build a nuclear bomb.
Saddam is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb..."

CP: OK Stop! I get it, so maybe I did make a case to go to war based on what I said. Boy do I feel stupid. I thought George was my friend. He must have saw how popular I was , and he knew that if he went down for this war, he would take me with him. Damn, he and that little weasel that sits on his shoulder all the time, are always scheming.
FN: You mean Karl Rove?
CP: That's exactly who I mean.
FN: But Colin, I gotta ask you, what were you thinking? Right before your speech, Hans Blix, and Muhammed El Baradei told the U.N. that disarmament was taking place in Iraq, and they specifically asked for more time. And Dr. Baradei even said your statements about a uranium transfer between Iraq and Niger was not authentic. And they said that they found no evidence or plausible indication of WMD's in Iraq. So again, I ask you, what the F%&* were you thinking?
CP: I will tell you what I was thinking field. I was thinking I could trust those slime balls like Rommey and Cheyney in the White House. I was following the advise of Cheyney and the CIA. What else can I tell you? I trusted them, and they burned me. It's as simple as that FN: Boy did they ever.
CP: Hey, if you remember, I said it in Cairo Egypt back in February of 2001, that Saddam was not a threat, so I knew even then, and I still let them talk me into this mess. That's why I resigned. Oh I gave Ms. Thing my letter of resignation as soon as Georgie boy won another term.
FN: Who is Ms. Thing?
CP: You know, Condi, the resident house negro now that I am gone.
FN: Yeah. but in your letter you said: "I will always treasure the four years that I have spent with President Bush and the wonderful men and women of the Department of State"
Didn't you mean those words?
CP: Did Anna Nicole really love her old ass husband? Of course I didn't mean it. But what else was I going to say?
FN: Well you could have been a little more honest with the American people. CP: I was honest with the American People.
FN: No you weren't, not when some of the very people who worked for you, basically said you were lying. People like Scott Thielmann for instance. And there is no doubt that your speech to the U.N. legitimized the case for war.
CP: Yeah, and you know what field, I live with that every day. The human lives lost, the cost, the total destruction of that country, and the entire Middle East going to hell in a hand basket. Do you know that over 72,000 people world wide have lost their lives to terrorist attacks since Georgie boy announced his war on terror. Not to mention the fact that 3,000 Iraqis a month are now dying. That's why I just sit here and smoke the good collie weed all day. It's too f#$%*g depressing man. That damn Rumsfield, he gets my goat up too. Here is a guy who actually went to Iraq in the eighties when he worked for Reagan, and gave the guy -Saddam- all types of support including military, and intelligence, and now he goes to Salt Lake City of all places and compares the guy to Hitler. Boy that's priceless. That takes some big ones, doesn't it?
FN: Yes it does Colin, yes it does.

"Never let a politician grant you a favor they will always want to control you forever..."

CP: Damn, they are playing that Marley again. Hey cut dat mon cut dat. Yu nu si me a talk to mi brethren field negro. Sorry field, every now and then I have to go there with these niabingies.
FN: That's cool Colin. You just hang in there OK, I will report this on my blog, and let the rest of people in America know that you are still alive and kicking. They were all just a little worried about you that's all.
CP: Field, make sure you let the American people know that I was set up, and I didn't want this to happen. It's not my fault.
FN: I hear you Colin.
CP: You want a hit off of this? It's lamsbread wrapped in tobacco leaf, it's the best weed in the world.
FN: No thanks Colin, I don't get high, but thanks for the offer. Besides, I think you need it more than I do, you need all the escape you can get.

"Of good over evil, of good over evil, Good over evil"

Damn Colin, no one listens to you anymore.