[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Op-Ed Contributor: Colin Powell's Redeeming Failures

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Op-Ed Contributor: Colin Powell's Redeeming Failures

November 16, 2004
 By WALTER ISAACSON 



 

Washington — One of Colin Powell's heroes is his
predecessor at the Pentagon and the State Department, Gen.
George C. Marshall. Mr. Powell works under a portrait of,
and at the desk once used by, the wise World War II Army
chief who served as Harry Truman's secretary of state. 

He occasionally recounts the tale of the day in 1948 when
Truman was considering whether the United States should
recognize the newly declared state of Israel. Marshall
advised against it, but Truman decided to go ahead. More
than once, Mr. Powell has described how some of Marshall's
aides gathered around "this desk" to say that he had no
choice but to resign. Marshall responded by asking them who
had made him the president? Truman was president, Marshall
pointed out, and he got to make the decisions. The
secretary of state's role was to give his best advice and
then offer support. 

When Colin Powell tells the tale, in the wake of the Iraq
invasion, it's clear that he's discussing himself as well
as Marshall. But it's worth noting that the main difference
between the two men in these instances is that Mr. Powell
turned out to be right about most of the advice he gave on
Iraq, while Marshall was wrong on Israel. Despite this - or
maybe because of it - neither today's commentators nor
tomorrow's historians are likely to treat Mr. Powell with
the veneration accorded Marshall. Nor, for that matter, has
the White House. 

Colin Powell's problem is that both the Bush
administration's loyalists and its critics are disappointed
in him, the former because he was not fully supportive of
the strategy and tactics that led to the occupation of
Iraq, and the latter because he did not publicly throw
himself in front of that train. He is deemed a failure
because he lost the war of ideas to Vice President Dick
Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and their
neoconservative outriders. 

Nevertheless, there should be an honored place in history's
pantheon for statesmen whose ideas and instincts turned out
to be right - even though they were ignored. Let's leave
aside for a moment whether he could have done more to
prevail and to prevent the war, and instead let's decide
what lessons from his tenure ought to be written in ink. 

Mr. Powell is an honorable man and we should take him at
his word that, like most Americans of both parties, he
favored the removal of Saddam Hussein, thought that there
was evidence that the dictator was acquiring weapons of
mass destruction, and supported the invasion of Iraq. On
these grounds, Mr. Powell was not being disingenuous nor
lending legitimacy to policies he opposed. 

He did, however, offer cautions and reservations. The
doctrine that has long been associated with his name is
that any military intervention should have a well-defined
mission, use enough force that it can be accomplished
cleanly and successfully and include a clear exit strategy.
Mr. Powell argued, before the invasion, for more time to
line up a broader coalition of allies and for more
extensive planning for postwar security and occupation. 

To varying degrees, he lost out to the Pentagon civilians
on each and every one of these points. And in almost every
case, he turned out to be more wise and prescient. The
lesson we should remember about him is not that he failed
to prevail but that he should have prevailed. 

Mr. Powell entered office as perhaps the most respected man
in America, a heroic soldier and wise statesman with rock
star appeal. But his tenure as secretary was eventually
marred by the unforeseen consequences of his one major
bureaucratic success: persuading the president to go to the
United Nations for a resolution of support on Iraq. His
reward was the photograph that will dim his legacy, that of
him and George Tenet, the director of central intelligence,
sitting before the Security Council, presenting the
intelligence evidence that Iraq was busily developing
weapons of mass destructions. It was convincing - except in
hindsight. 

The defining divide within the foreign policy establishment
has long been between idealists, like the neoconservatives
who hope that America can help democratize the Middle East,
and the realists, who believe in a bit more caution and a
focus on America's cold strategic interests. One eminent
realist, Brent Scowcroft, a mentor to Mr. Powell and the
steward of the enormously successful foreign policy of the
first President Bush, calls it a struggle between
transformationalists and traditionalists. Each approach is
a necessary component of a sustainable foreign policy. From
the Monroe Doctrine to the Marshall Plan, American
diplomacy has been at its best when they have been woven
together. 

During his 40 years of national service, Colin Powell has
been an exemplar of both approaches and of the balance that
must be struck between them. His role in the Bush
administration was to push for a little bit more realism -
some more care and planning and humility in the conduct of
the Iraq war - to be part of the current balance. It was a
worthy role, one that ought not disappear with him. 

Walter Isaacson, the chief executive of the Aspen
Institute, is the author of "Benjamin Franklin: An American
Life" and "Kissinger: A Biography." 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/opinion/16isaacson.html?ex=1101622673&ei=1&en=12ad0654f1bb5d36


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