August 26, 2016
Despite her best efforts and
those of her friends in the corporate media, Hillary Clinton cannot escape her
email scandal. In an attempt to comingle her responsibilities as secretary of
state with her influence peddling at the Clinton Foundation, she used a private
server to conduct all of her official, classified government duties.
Hillary Clinton is quite a
liar but she was never a very good one. It was only a matter of time before her
use of the private email server came to light. She was fortunate to have Barack
Obama let her off the hook. Her only punishment was public criticism from the
FBI director who nonetheless said that he would prosecute anyone else who did
the same thing.
Yet the story is still highly
problematic at this stage in her presidential campaign. So much so that damage
control was in order. Clintonite courtier and author Joe Conason volunteered to
help by shoving former secretary of state Colin
Powell under a bus. Conason coincidentally released excerpts from his soon
to be published biography of Bill Clinton at just the right moment. It is
interesting that the New
York Times uses the passive voice in discussing its role in the saga, “The
New York Times received an advance copy.” In the nick of time Conason gave his
friends an advance copy of the book to repeat Clinton’s claim that Powell made
her do wrong.
The gangsterish “no honor
among war criminals” back stabbing shouldn’t make anyone feel badly for Powell.
As secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration Powell kidnapped
Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and sent him into exile. Colin Powell
made the most important public case for invading Iraq and the subsequent
killing of one million people.
At a now infamous United
Nations presentation he lied to the entire world about the existence of weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq. Using nothing but aerial photographs and a
laboratory vial as a dramatic prop he claimed to have proof of chemical weapons
production. United Nations inspectors had discovered nothing of the kind
despite numerous visits to Iraq, but no matter. Powell was the public face of
regime change and mass death.
The Conason version of events
is also telling in a way that the author may not have intended. Conason and
Clinton say that Powell dispensed his sage advice at a dinner party hosted by
Madeleine Albright. Not only were Albright, Powell and Clinton in attendance
but so were Condoleezza Rice and Henry Kissinger. It was a reunion of war
criminals past and present. The gathering is proof that there is always foreign
policy continuity from president to president, whether Democrat or Republican.
While millions of people
agonize over presidential campaigns and stridently make the case for their
choice, foreign policy decisions differ very little no matter which party is in
the White House. That much is obvious to anyone who pays attention but the
gathering of the in-crowd at Albright’s house ought to get as much attention as
Clinton using Powell for cover.
“Powell was the public face of
regime change and mass death.”
When the story first broke
Powell said he had “no recollection” of the conversation. But he is a “made”
man in the foreign policy/ruling class mafia and realized he had to stick with
the rest of the gang. So he had a different response 24 hours later. He
conceded that he told Clinton his limited personal email use “transformed
communications” in the State Department. It doesn’t matter because rules became
far more strict by the time Clinton took office. Her actions were clearly a
violation of the law. The last gasp effort to put Powell’s name in her mess is
obviously borne of desperation.
Of course Powell is human and
the Clintonian lies still rankle. He was somewhat peevish even after seeming to
make peace with the rest of the gangsters. “Her people have been trying to pin
it on me,” he
whined. “The truth is she was using [the private email server] for a year
before I sent her a memo and telling her what I did.” When asked to explain why
he was the subject of Hillary’s finger pointing, Powell made an obvious point.
“Why do you think?” He then added a lie of his own. “It doesn’t bother me. But
it’s ok. I’m free.”
Obviously the blame Colin game
does bother him. How could it not? But Colin Powell’s history of his own lies
makes it hard for him to be the object of sympathy. Even in giving his version
of events he lets his co-criminal off the hook with “her people” pinning the
blame. The underlings get Colin’s wrath but the rules of omerta prevent him
from mentioning the true culprit by name.
The back and forth between
Clinton and Powell is misdirection for the naïve. None of these people are
worthy of trust and none of them can ever come out looking very good. The two
mass murderers are behaving true to form and Conason represents the corporate
media lackeys who always find a powerful person to latch onto. They make
connections and money with their high profile patrons and present their
collusion as if it were truly journalism.
The public have to thank a
right wing organization, Judicial
Watch, for keeping Hillary on the hot seat. Their lawsuit resulted in a
federal judge ordering Clinton to respond to their questions in writing and the
last minute repeat of blaming Powell had to be resurrected.
The fact that a right wing
group is bringing the dirt to light shouldn’t dissuade anyone else from using
it against Hillary Clinton. If progressives were truly progressive they would
have dumped her long ago. Instead she is the meal ticket du jour for NGOs, the
black misleadership class of politicians and civil rights organizations and
others beholden to Democratic Party success to stay on the gravy train.
To a person, the guests at
Albright’s soiree are among the worst people on the planet. All have a
horrendous body count on their ledgers. Kissinger killed millions of people in
raining destruction upon Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Madeleine Albright said it
was “worth it” to kill thousands of Iraqi children through the use of
sanctions, Powell has Haiti and Iraq on his bloody resume, Rice was always a
true believer in regime change and Hillary Clinton made the case for destroying
Libya and then moving on to do the same to Syria.
Of course any of them would
use the other to get out of jail free. None of them are worthy of respect or
should be thought of in any positive light. The people in charge of American
foreign policy are, to a person, killers for hire and should be thought of in
the same vein as mob hit men and women. No one should cry for Colin Powell or
vote for Hillary Clinton either. The two criminals certainly deserve one
another.
Margaret Kimberley writes
the Freedom Rider column
for Black Agenda Report, where this essay originally appeared.
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