{"id":63495,"date":"2013-08-28T07:50:04","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T06:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/john-kerrys-colin-powell-moment-2\/63495\/"},"modified":"2013-08-28T07:50:04","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T06:50:04","slug":"john-kerrys-colin-powell-moment-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/john-kerrys-colin-powell-moment-2\/","title":{"rendered":"John Kerry's Colin Powell Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nJohn Kerry’s Colin Powell Moment<\/b><\/div>\n
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\nby Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n
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\nAll wars are based on lies. Truth prevents them from being waged. America hasn’t waged a legal one since WW II.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nWhat’s now ongoing bears eerie resemblance to events preceding Bush’s Iraq war. Waging them requires pretexts to do so.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nWhen none exists, they’re invented. Lies substitute for truth. Claims about Syria using chemical weapons don’t wash. They repeat with disturbing regularity.<\/div>\n
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\nAssad’s wrongfully blamed for last Wednesday’s Ghouta incident. No evidence whatever links it to Syrian forces. Plenty lays blame where it belongs.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nInsurgents bear full responsibility. It doesn’t matter. America’s longstanding plans call for regime change. War is the strategy of choice. It’s planned. It’s coming. It appears imminent.<\/div>\n
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\nOn August 26, John Kerry replicated Colin Powell’s infamous February 5, 2003 Security Council<\/span><\/a> <\/span>moment. It was shameless deception.<\/div>\n
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\nPlans were set. The die was cast. Weeks later, America bombed, invaded and occupied Iraq. The cradle of civilization was destroyed.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nNo WMDs existed. It was well-known. Powell knew. \u00a0He lied claiming otherwise.<\/div>\n
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\n“(F)acts and Iraq’s behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction,” he said.<\/div>\n
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\n“(E)very statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are the facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.”<\/div>\n
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\n“The gravity of this moment is matched by the gravity of the threat that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction pose to the world.”<\/div>\n
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\nNone existed. Powell knew it. He lied. He suppressed vital truths. Doing so is longstanding US policy.<\/div>\n
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\nIn August 1995, Saddam’s son-in-law, Hussein Kamel, defected to the West. He headed Iraq’s weapons programs. US intelligence officials debriefed him.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nHe said “All weapons – biological, chemical, missile and nuclear were destroyed. Nothing remained.”<\/div>\n
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\nThe New York Times reported his comments. So did other major US news sources.<\/div>\n
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\nCNN’s Brent Sadler<\/a> <\/span>asked him: “Can you state here and now – does Iraq still to this day hold weapons of mass destruction?”<\/div>\n
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\nHe responded: “No. Iraq does not possess any weapons of mass destruction. I am being completely honest about this.”<\/div>\n
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\nAhead of Bush’s Iraq war, managed news misinformation replaced earlier reports. It’s repeating again now. Obama’s heading for war on Syria.<\/div>\n
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\nOn August 26, John Kerry<\/span><\/a> effectively declared it. He left no ambiguity. His comments replicated Colin Powell’s infamous moment. It’ll be long remembered.<\/div>\n
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\n“<\/span>What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world,” he said. “It defies any code of morality.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“Let me be clear: The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders, by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“By any standard it is inexcusable, and despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable.”<\/div>\n
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\n“The meaning of this attack goes beyond the conflict in Syria itself, and that conflict has already brought so much terrible suffering.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“This is about the large-scale, indiscriminate use of weapons that the civilized world long ago decided must never be used at all.”<\/div>\n
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\n“Obama has made clear to the Assad regime that this international norm cannot be violated without consequences.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“And there is a reason why no matter what you believe about Syria, all peoples and all nations who believe in the cause of our common humanity must stand up to assure that there is accountability for the use of chemical weapons so that it never happens again.”<\/div>\n
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\n“What is before us today is real, and it is compelling. So I also want to underscore that while investigators are gathering additional evidence on the ground, our understanding of what has already happened in Syria is grounded in facts informed by conscience and guided by common sense.”<\/div>\n
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\n“(W)e know that the Syrian regime maintains custody of these chemical weapons. We know that the Syrian regime has the capacity to do this with rockets.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“We know that the regime has been determined to clear the opposition from those very places where the attacks took place. And with our own eyes, we have all of us become witnesses.”<\/div>\n
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\n“At President Obama\u2019s direction, I\u2019ve spent many hours over the last few days on the phone with foreign ministers and other leaders.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“The Administration is actively consulting with members of Congress and we will continue to have these conversations in the days ahead.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“President Obama has also been in close touch with the leaders of our key allies, and the President will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use of chemical weapons.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“But make no mistake: President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world\u2019s most heinous weapons against the world\u2019s most vulnerable people.”\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\n“Nothing today is more serious and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny.”<\/div>\n
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\nIt bears repeating. Kerry replicated Colin Powell’s infamous February 2003 moment. He effectively declared war. It appears imminent. It could start any time.<\/div>\n
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\nObama wants another country ravaged and destroyed. He wants regime change. He wants pro-Western puppet governance replacing sovereign Syrian independence.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nHe wants unchallenged regional dominance. He wants it globally. Permanent wars of aggression are waged to achieve it.<\/div>\n
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\nRavaging one country after another is a small price to pay. It’s longstanding US policy. It’s happening again now. It’s doing so unaccountably. Fundamental international, constitutional and US statute laws are violated.<\/div>\n
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\nNo nation may interfere in the internal affairs of others. No exceptions exist. None may attack another country except in self-defense.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nIt may do so only until the Security Council acts. It has final say.<\/div>\n
\nAttacking without SC authorization is blatantly illegal. It’s lawless aggression.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was clear and unequivocal. “Any military action without Security Council approval would be a grave violation of international law,” he said. He expressed grave concerns for what looms.<\/div>\n
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\nThe Constitution’s Article I, Section 8 affords Congress alone the power to:\u00a0<\/div>\n
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