Appearing Sunday on CBS’s Face the
Nation former Secretary of State Colin Powell voiced support for President
Obama's national security strategy. Referencing former Vice President Dick
Cheney's recent attacks on the President’s strategy, Secretary Powell indicated
they were not borne out by the facts.
In discussing the issue with host Bob Schieffer, Powell expressed doubt on what have
become Cheney’s continual attempts to undercut the national security efforts of
President Obama. He also defended the president on the war in Afghanistan and
continuing support for Pakistan's government, and the use of federal courts to
prosecute suspected terrorists, instead of the military commission process.
The Secretary said that in eight
years the military commissions have put only three people on trial; and two of
them served relatively short sentences and are now free. He further added that
the federal courts, the Article 3 regular legal court system, had put dozens of
terrorists in jail, and that they we’re fully capable of handling these cases. Powell
didn’t believe that military commission was the way to handle suspected
terrorist base on recent history of the military commission.
Powell had previously served as
George W. Bush's secretary of state and was instrumental in easing concerns of
many elder statesmen just prior to the launch the Iraq war in 2003. He had
appeared before the United Nations and presented many assertions on supposed
Iraqi nuclear capabilities that later proved to be false.
Watch the interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN3mObA9InE&feature=player_embedded
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