President Bush fired Colin Powell.
By on Sep 30th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
President Bush fired Colin Powell.
“On Wednesday, November 10, 2004, eight days after the president he served was elected to a second term, Secretary of State Colin Powell received a telephone call from the White House at his State Department office. The caller was not President Bush but Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and he got right to the point. ‘The president would like to make a change,’ Card said, using a time-honored formulation that avoided the words ‘resign’ or ‘fire.’ … Bush wanted Powell’s resignation letter dated two days hence, on Friday, November 12, Card said, although the White House expected him to stay at the State Department until his successor was confirmed by the Senate.”
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Boehner
Bush
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
DADT
Economy
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Global Warming
Graham
Guantanamo
Hannity
Health Care
International Relations
Iran
Iraq
Justice
LGBT
Limbaugh
Liz Cheney
McCain
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Rove
Sanford
Sotomayor
Steele
Supreme Court
Terrorism
ThinkProgress
Tiller
Torture
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
This makes it utterly incomprehensible why Powell would ever again give Bush - or any other member of the Bush Administration - the time of day, let alone kiss up to them and bend over for them.
Has he NO pride?
September 30th, 2006 at 9:05 pmPowell has to be the single person most screwed over by the Bushies. It is inconceivable what he would say if he finally chose to tell it all.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:07 pmWell Powell would be wise to spill all the beans on Bush now, because Rumsfeld should have been fired at the end of 2004!
September 30th, 2006 at 9:13 pmWhile I have no doubt that Powell was severely "screwed over by the Bushies", I would say that the people MOST screwed over are the many thousands of soliders who have and will come home from iraq in coffins, missing limbs, or suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:15 pmBush rode Powell hard and put him up wet. There's no room for respect nor integrity in an unprecedented presidential power grab. We're in big trouble if Diebolt has the final say.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:15 pmWhy Powell thought he would be treated better than a janitor by Bush is Powell's delusion.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:21 pmOT
US kept spying data from Blair
"TONY BLAIR was angered by America’s refusal to share intelligence on Iraq with Britain, according to a revealing new book by Bob Woodward, the veteran journalist who exposed the Watergate scandal.
The prime minister protested to President George W Bush about the way intelligence was routinely marked NOFORN (no foreigners), denying access to the US’s closest ally.
In State of Denial, published tomorrow(UK), Woodward reveals that raw intelligence gathered by British operatives in Iraq and fused with the Americans’ own data was stored on the classified Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET).
“The British couldn’t see it, let alone get a copy, because it was marked NOFORN,†Woodward writes....."
September 30th, 2006 at 9:24 pmThere is no excuse for Blair. I knew about PNAC in 2001. Surely Blair knew. Blair should never be forgiven for his role in the lead up to the Iraq war. As far as Colin Power he is no longer making excuses for the Bush administration. His speech at the UN must have been the darkest day of his life. He knew it was bull. A man of Powel stature can be forgiven.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:31 pmCaesar will have no man about him who is greater than he.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:44 pmTony's Noballs comments at the coffee corner Monday morning.
"It is all Bill Clinton's fault. He is the one that pushed that equal opportunity crap giving minorities and women all that comeuppance stuff. We were happy with the duty Nigra until they started screaming about hiring a woman. We just couldn't have two of those people so high up in the tree. What would Momma Bush think?"
September 30th, 2006 at 9:45 pmI remember Powell's speech at the 2000 Republican convention as he tried to defend affirmative action by saying that the Republican party is such a big tent that they can have disagreements and still be united. He was so nervous about saying it that he stumbled over the words as if he was expecting to be pelted with fruit at any moment. Firing him was Bush's chance to hit him square in the forehead with a big juicy rotten tomato.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:50 pmi'm thinking this is a good time for powell to come clean...
September 30th, 2006 at 10:00 pmat least apologize... for something... my gawd...
And now Woodward tells us Henry "the Kreep" Kissinger has become the backdoor Secretary of State.............
September 30th, 2006 at 10:04 pmHenry and Admiral John "Spyware" Poindexter probably get together for a few laughs as well..................
Powell was only a "figure-head" a sock puppet if you will, Armitage was the real SOS. Powell got left out of the loop. And Armitage took the reins.
We should all remember who the left overs from the Mad king George's reign. They were all invovled in Iran-Contra. They were all pardoned by Mad king Geroge.
They were put in place for a reason. They were planning the MisAdministration back in the coup of 2000. Mad king Boy George is surrounded by his daddy's loyalist.
September 30th, 2006 at 10:13 pmI don't know why Powell doesn't just lay it all out for the American people. Really, how much worse could he look?
September 30th, 2006 at 10:29 pmtesting
September 30th, 2006 at 10:35 pm#12...
...which would be the same speech he gave at the 1996 convention as well when they tried to trot out that 'Dole'ful candidate (though not as doleful as our current fascist regime). For the Republiecans, the only diversity involved is in the diversity of ways they attack those that dare to question their king.
September 30th, 2006 at 10:35 pmPowell got the shaft from his c-in-chief. Bush, the coward, had Andy Card fire Powell. It isn't enough that he made a fool of Powell (at the UN). I have no respect left for Powell (he is on my McCain list) but my contempt for Bush has sunk lower than I thought possible.
To call him a snake, is to compliment him. The man is despicable.
Is there any connection between Powell's being shown the door and the resignation of Michael Powell from the FCC? (Not that I miss the jerk.)
September 30th, 2006 at 10:36 pmWhen is Powell going to come clean about the Bush administration? He owes more to the country than he owes to the scumbag. Powell has his own history on his conscience; he doesn't need to add covering up for the ass in the white house.
September 30th, 2006 at 10:42 pmHe is one who can set the record straight on Bush.
He is one who can set the record straight on Bush.
Comment by Marie — September 30, 2006 @ 10:42 pm
i thought that also...till i read what MagickMuffin had to say...
September 30th, 2006 at 11:04 pmyeesh...
you and zooey are right - it couldnt get much worse... or any lower...
but how much, and what kind of information was powell given?
Powell must know what really happened in the White House.
September 30th, 2006 at 11:51 pmDespite his being kept out of the loop - he is not a stupid man - he could clear up a lot of speculation concerning how rotten they all are.
Wilkerson (Powell's aide) has been speaking out, and he is defensive of Powell. Armitage - I gave him more credit in the past than I should have.
But, poeple in the loop in the admin. are all alumni of the Iran-Contra. They are criminals (Negroponte among them), all pardoned by Poppa Bush, and back in or influencing the white house.
There isn't anyone in the admin that should be trusted without some kind of litmus test for verification of their honesty.
Frankly, I think corruption and amorality are prerequisites for Bush&Co.
"The session ended with a cordial handshake, and the secretary returned to the State Department. "That was really strange," he reported to Wilkerson. "The president didn't know why I was there."
Last paragraph of the 5 page Washington Post article. So...if it was Bush asking (demanding) Powell's resignation...but didn't know why he was in his office that day...???? One more example that our "Commander in Chief" is a mere figurehead. An unbalanced, arrogant man who loves to dress up and be the "war president" or the "Texas cowboy" or whatever role he's playing that day. The real all tpowers are behind the throne, and I suspect are NOT the people we think they are...like Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, and others. Undoubtably, these are all people with dispicably defiicient moral fiber. But there's something more going on...something bigger that we are all missing. We are seeing all the trees, but it leaves us incapable of seeing the forest. If we are to survive, not as opponents of this administration, or Democrats, or liberals...but as members of the human species...we need to start discerning that forest. Because that's where the real power lies, and if we can't see and understand it, we can't defeat it.
October 1st, 2006 at 12:19 amaguafiero says: "And now Woodward tells us Henry “the Kreep†Kissinger has become the backdoor Secretary of State…………."
Monty Python's wish has come true! Lyrics:
Henry Kissinger
October 1st, 2006 at 6:41 amHow I'm missing yer
You're the Doctor of my dreams
With your crinkly hair and your glassy stare
And your machiavellian schemes
I know they say that you are very vain
And short and fat and pushy but at least you're not insane
Henry Kissinger
How I'm missing yer
And wishing you were here
Henry Kissinger
How I'm missing yer
You're so chubby and so neat
With your funny clothes and your squishy nose
You're like a German parakeet
All right so people say that you don't care
But you've got nicer legs than Hitler
And bigger tits than Cher
Henry Kissinger
How I'm missing yer
And wishing you were here
Bush did him a favor. What person with any brains wants to be associated with the fiasco that is the Republican administration. The people who run Walmart could do a more effective job fighting the War on Terror - and bring it in under budget. The GOP currently controls the most advanced, best financed military machine in the history of the world and they sit around Washington in a daze of impotent confusion and willful ignorance while 140,000 dedicated service men and women brave near-continuous assaults as they move through the streets and villages of Iraq desperately trying to search out and save a semblance of logic and purpose. I appreciate the GOP's need to rewrite the past by re-enacting the Vietnam War. I don't see why they couldn't conduct their war games in the California desert. I think most Americans would like to see someone in the GOP power elite take the War on Terror seriously for a change. Lincoln fired McClellan and eventually hired Grant. Bush fired Powell and clings to Rumsfeld. Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere.
October 1st, 2006 at 8:04 amMarie. in your #19 post, you sound like a disgruntled democrat forced to choose between the best of the worst (powell, mccain) of the republican party for leadership. do most democrats share a subconscious fatal view that republicans will lead going forward? is it possible for democrats to produce somebody, anybody, that we can all picture taking over the reigns.
October 1st, 2006 at 8:12 am#26, paul
You have misread me - perhaps I was not as clear as I could have been.
The Republicans have taken the country down a path of destruction and ultimate failure, through their greed, corruption and dishonesty . True conservatives are those disgruntled with their party.
Democrats are progressive, they think in layers, not in black/white, realizing that nothing is so simple, and work toward common goals. Republicans are self-serving and work toward more selfish goals.
Democrats recognize human frailties, Republicans deny them.
October 1st, 2006 at 11:36 amI see Mccain and Powell as the two man most admired by the Republicans and note that those idols have clay feet.
So, this administration is finally starting to implode - in public,no less. I just saw Andrew Card on CNN trying to dance around the issues raised by the Powell and Woodward books and he looked foolish trying to defend Rice, Rumsfeldt and the DECIDER himself. I can't wait to see how FOX spins this, not to mention the Foley fiasco.
October 1st, 2006 at 12:03 pmAfter reading this, I have lost any respect for Powell who has shown himself to be spineless in the significant matters that cause hundreds and thousands of death and massive destruction. May be he is a good soldier, but a terribly bad as a leader or moral individual.
October 1st, 2006 at 12:26 pmThis story is really falling apart. Sorry guys.
October 1st, 2006 at 8:00 pmIt's not so much that Powell is spineless or a terrible leader or whatever. If anyone read his autobiography, it's pretty easy to figure out that Powell's philosophy in life is to follow order, be a team player and never rock that boat - that's how he became where he was when he was the Joint Chief during the first Bush administration. Having followed his formula for success for so long, he didn't realized once he's in Washington, the rule of the game has changed on him, so he just soldier on blindly like he always have done except this time, it didn't work - and not only that, he was being portrait as being nothing more than a Yes man and thus lost all his credibility. In a way, he should have been fired, except he was being fired for all the wrong reasons.
October 1st, 2006 at 10:56 pmI hope this is true because it would help lead to my greatest dream ever:
Gore/ Powell '08
October 1st, 2006 at 11:12 pmThe following are my personal opinions. While they are strongly held opinions based on years of watching the news and paying attention, for all you know I could very well be some crackpot, so I encourage you to look further into any subject I'm about to mention and make up your own mind.
It is my belief that Colin Powell is no stranger to shady secret government dealings. He goes way, way back. But more recently, he was part of the larger Iran-Contra scandal in the 80's which smuggled drugs with Ollie North, John Poindexter, Bill Casey, Bill Clinton, Barry Seal, Dan Lasater and the rest of that gang. With his discreet method of acting behind the scenes, and with his silence on key issues, Powell has protected not only the Bushies, but also the Clintons and the Bush Sr's and of course the Reaganites before that, all while keeping his hands apparently clean. They were all directly or indirectly involved in the arms for contras for drugs for money for more arms for Iranians for "hostages" fiasco. It wasn't exclusively Ollie North's "Enterprise." It was and still is much bigger than his little NSC office could ever contain.
There was (and still is today) a vast drug smuggling operation run by a core group of cronies that just won't go away. We've had so-called presidential elections, which may placate us, but in reality there has been no changing of the guard since Carter.
Of course they don't fly the coke into Mena, Arkansas anymore. That's old history. Now they fly it all the way up the Atlantic into Canada, and truck it down into Montana, or fly it in, through the Indian reservation on the border. (Google it, if you doubt what I am saying.)
I don't even vote anymore, since it's no use. The elections are rigged, and legally so, by simple preselection of the candidates. The mobsters in DC can't lose. Why would they? Of course they stack the deck. So would you, if failing to do so meant going to jail for your crimes. I'm sure there are hundreds of billions, perhaps even trillions of dollars at stake every year, depending on how strictly you define corruption and dirty dealing.
I'd bet that Colin Powell has kept more secrets and absorbed more heat that G. Gordon Liddy and Henry Kissinger ever did, combined. So if Powell was fired by Bush, I'm guessing it must have been because Powell was no longer sufficiently evil to make meaningful contributions to national policy.
October 1st, 2006 at 11:30 pmuh...
Powell was telling the administration that he was planning to leave his position for the second term. The administration said "ok" and looked for a new SOS. They decided upon a new SOS and then asked Powell to resign so the new SOS could take over.
Listen, I'm one of those 'middle of the road' people. You know... One of those guys the D's and R's should be trying to convince to vote for them. I'm the guy you people really need to go after. But 99% of the stuff i see in the paper, on the internet, on TV.. It makes me think you're all just freaking nuts. Both sides. You all just find some little thing, some article or sound bite... or someone just makes something up out of the blue... i don't know. But you just start doing this back and forth insanity. You all bring up issues that have nothing to do with what's going on. You all try to turn things into something they're not.
It's gotten to the point where the news is no longer the news. Reporters no longer just inform me of what happened in the senate now they have to make their little speeches and counter points and try to inject their own opinions into this stuff.
If it keeps up like this for the next couple years I'm going to have to "waste" my vote yet again.
October 1st, 2006 at 11:51 pmWhen one bargains with the Devil...
...does one not lose one's soul?
Powell deserves what he got for accepting the position in Satan (Bushiva's) cabinet...
...men of honor do not sleep with pigs...
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:26 am"I hope this is true because it would help lead to my greatest dream ever:
Gore/ Powell ‘08 "
Someone throw a bucket of water on Pete and wake him up--as big papa said, men of honor do not sleep with pigs…
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:35 amPowell should have resigned immediately after it was confirmed there was never any WMD in Iraq. His day at the UN will be his mark on history forever.
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:46 amBlackmail is a huge weapon in the BUSH crime family{ BUSH senior was CIA} that they and the republicans are known for using, see congress corruption.
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:44 pmNo one is spared for f*cking with these NEO NAZIS,now the snakehead of the NAZIS has the law to kill or imprison anyone that doesn't go along....Really great idea to put into law.
...KARMA will come to america in large doses as deserved.
In answer to the question as to why powell put up with so much during and after his service to Bush II - i think this can be summed up in 2 words: michael powell.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:54 am[...] Think Progress President Bush fired Colin Powell. Hard-hitting research and analysis that advances progressive ideas and policies President Bush fired Colin Powell. On Wednesday, November 10, 2004, eight days after the president [...]
October 14th, 2006 at 10:04 am[...] Think Progress President Bush fired Colin Powell. Hard-hitting research and analysis that advances progressive ideas and policies President Bush fired Colin Powell. On Wednesday, November 10, 2004, eight days after the president [...]
October 18th, 2006 at 12:57 am[...] Page Summary: It is inconceivable what he would say if he finally chose to tell it all. We were happy with the duty Nigra until they started screaming about hiring a woman. He owes more to the country than he owes to the scumbag. We are seeing all the trees, but it leaves us incapable of seeing the forest.read more | digg story [...]
October 26th, 2006 at 10:49 pmI like Salad
January 31st, 2007 at 9:57 am