Former secretary of state Colin Powell, who served through George W. Bush’s first term, will appear on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, January 13, to reportedly make the case for Chuck Hagel to head the defense department. Powell has been critical of Republicans in recent years and made high-profile endorsements of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. The retired four-star general was also critical of the Iraq war after leaving the Bush White House in 2005.
Powell’s appearance will come exactly 10 years after a meeting he had with President Bush in the Oval Office. That meeting was first reported by the journalist Bob Woodward in a 2004 book:
Two months before the invasion of Iraq, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell warned President Bush about the potential negative consequences of a war, citing what Mr. Powell privately called the ”you break it, you own it” rule of military action, according to a new book.
”You’re sure?” Mr. Powell is quoted as asking Mr. Bush in the Oval Office on Jan. 13, 2003, as the president told him he had made the decision to go forward. ”You understand the consequences,” he is said to have stated in a half-question. ”You know you’re going to be owning this place?”
The book, ”Plan of Attack,” by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, reconstructs that and other private conversations between senior Bush administration officials during the 16-month period of planning and preparation that ended with the attack on Iraq last March.
”You’re sure?” Mr. Powell is quoted as asking Mr. Bush in the Oval Office on Jan. 13, 2003, as the president told him he had made the decision to go forward. ”You understand the consequences,” he is said to have stated in a half-question. ”You know you’re going to be owning this place?”
The book, ”Plan of Attack,” by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, reconstructs that and other private conversations between senior Bush administration officials during the 16-month period of planning and preparation that ended with the attack on Iraq last March.
