This item is on Yahoo, and I haven’t seen it anywhere else except InstaPundit.
But Reps. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., Robert Melendez, D-N.J., Rep. Robert I Wexler, D-Fla., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, challenged Powell about the administration’s case, suggesting it may have been misleading from the outset.
“Truth is the first casualty of war,” Ackerman said. “I would contend truth was murdered before a shot was fired.”
“We went into this war under false premises,” Melendez said.
Wexler told Powell he considered him to be “the credible voice in the administration.”
“When you reached the conclusion that Iraq represented a clear and present danger to the United States, that meant a lot to me,” Wexler said. “But the facts suggest there was a part of the story that was not true.”
Powell fielded the assertions calmly, defending the president’s judgment and his own.
But when Brown contrasted Powell’s military experience to Bush’s record with the National Guard, saying the president “may have been AWOL” from duty, Powell exploded.
“First of all, Mr. Brown, I won’t dignify your comments about the president because you don’t know what you are talking about,” Powell snapped.
I spent ten long days with Ackerman on a deployment, and have little use for him. I don’t know the other two, but by their comments I would rank them with Ackerman. Colin Powell let his stars shine through. Regardless of any differences he may have with his boss, he wouldn’t allow an inferior (my word, not his) to demean Bush in his presence. And the congressman, whether he liked it or not, knew he was outclassed. I’ve had my ass chewed by a general before, and I can tell you it is different than any other dress-down.
Congressman Brown just found that out.