Fwd: Colin Powell: Casualty of War

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Resent-date: Sat, 08 May 2004 07:10:41 -0400
Date: Sat, 08 May 2004 03:39:52 +0000
Resent-from: David Farber <dave () farber net>
From: John Levine <johnl () iecc com>

This story is about to appear in, of all places, GQ.  The most
interesting parts are an interview with Condi Rice, in which it is
painfully evident how little relationship there is between what she
says and reality, and on-the-record comments of Powell's chief of
staff, Larry Wilkerson, om the rest of the Bush administration.


Casualty of War

Four years into an embattled Bush administration, Colin Powell is hard
at work at something he's never had to worry about before: salvaging
his legacy.

By Wil S. Hylton

A few weeks ago, I went to see Colin Powell in his office. The room
was tiny and the light dim. An Asian lamp on his desk cast a faint
glow onto the walls, and the shades of his windows were drawn, giving
the room a padded, womblike feel. Everything was in earth tones. When
I commented on the warm ambience, Powell shrugged his considerable
shoulders and said, "Yeah, because I have stuff lying all over the
place." It was true. He was surrounded by a jumble of paperwork and
clutter. The bookshelves behind his desk were jammed with old
photographs and volumes of world history, some upright on the shelves,
others crooked and diagonal, halfway to falling off. In one corner, a
podium was pressed against a window, as if he had been practicing a
speech to the drapes, while in another corner his suit jacket was
slung over a cherry valet stand, hovering above the floor like a
ghost. In place of the jacket, Powell wore a dark blue windbreaker
with the words BOYS & GIRLS club on the breast. He sat behind his desk
with a calm, curious look.

I had come to see Powell because, for several weeks, his closest
friends and colleagues had been telegraphing a story to me. Powell was
finished, they'd said. Exhausted. Frustrated. Bitter. He was
uncomfortable with the president's agenda and fatigued from his
battles with the Pentagon. ...

http://us.gq.com/plus/content/?040429plco_01

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