The Unknown Candidate: ROBERT SCHEER ON BUSH'S LEAK AND COLIN POWELL'S DISCLOSURE

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

ROBERT SCHEER ON BUSH'S LEAK AND COLIN POWELL'S DISCLOSURE

Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, tells Truthdig's editor in chief that he and his department's top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat, but that the President followed the misleading advice of Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA in making the claim.

" 'The CIA was pushing the aluminum tube argument heavily and Cheney went with that instead of what our guys wrote,' Powell said. And the Niger reference in Bush's State of the Union speech? 'That was a big mistake,' he said. 'It should never have been in the speech. I didn't need Wilson to tell me that there wasn't a Niger connection. He didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. I never believed it.' "

DON'T MISS ROBERT SCHEER'S NEW BOOK

"Playing President: My Relationships with Nixon, Carter, Bush I, Reagan, and Clinton--and How They Did Not Prepare Me for George W. Bush"
(With a foreword by Gore Vidal)

Scheer's interviews with and profiles of U.S. presidents have shaped journalism history and had a tangible impact on national debate—such as the eminent 1976 Playboy interview in which Jimmy Carter, the then-presidential candidate, admitted to lusting in his heart; and the 1980 L.A. Times interview with Bush I, in which he confessed to Scheer his dream of a "winnable nuclear war."

Scheer, whom Joan Didion called “one of the best reporters of our time,” offers with this book unparalleled insight into the presidential mind. Through both new writings and reprinted material, Scheer analyzes every administration from Nixon to George W. Bush, offering insights that will surprise the reader—particularly those with rigid preconceptions about the decision-making processes of our leaders.

From Vidal's foreword: "With these observations on a section of our history, Scheer joins that small group of journalist-historians that includes Richard Rovere, Murray Kempton, and Walter Lippmann."

Photo credit: Then U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, speaks during a press briefing at the State Department, Monday, Dec. 27, 2004, in Washington. Powell said Thursday March 30, 2006 America must not allow post-9/11 security concerns to cost the country its sense of openness. Powell spoke to about 3,000 students, alumni and others Thursday night at Kutztown University's Keystone Arena. Powell, 69, said as secretary of state he was instrumental in enacting security measures following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including a tightening of visas. But he said he warned President Bush against going too far. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)