Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has told the Mainichi he believes the Iraq War -- which began while he was in office in 2003 -- could have been averted.
Powell also stated during an Aug. 24 telephone interview that he regretted the false intelligence that led the United States to claim the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which Powell presented to the United Nations and which underpinned the U.S. case to invade Iraq.
"I will always be seen as the one who made the major public presentation of that intelligence. I regret that it was wrong but, at the same time, we had every reason to believe it was correct," Powell said of the false WMD evidence.
In a 2005 interview on ABC television, Powell called the speech a "blot" on his reputation, though he also emphasized that he did not fabricate the intelligence -- a point he was keen to reiterate to the Mainichi.
TVNL Comment: Powell knew he was lying to the UN. He single-handedly could have stopped the invasion, but chose to remain silent and fully supported the invasion and occupaton of Iraq. Too late, Mr. Powell, far too late.
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