Originally published on the CGS blog on June 11, 2007.
Over the years, depending on where I lived, my morning commutes have been quite diverse. My first job, as a sports editor at a small daily newspaper in Michigan, involved about an eight-block walk to the office. Another post, at a small liberal arts university, included about a four-mile round trip in my 1979 Cutlass.
These days, I am blessed to venture into the nation’s Capital from the northern suburbs of Maryland via the Metro system (I always thought it was called a subway, while many Brits would know this transportation vehicle as the tube). Anyway, on my Metro jaunt I get a pretty good read of The Washington Post each morning.
In today’s paper , a page three story caught my eye. It is a story about former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s comments on Sunday’s Meet the Press. Powell makes no bones about it when he says:
“that he would close down the U.S. military prison for enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “this afternoon” because it has become a major problem in “the way the world perceives America.”
“Essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like a military commission.”
Post reporter Walter Pincus reminds his readers that:
Powell was the only member of President Bush’s first-term “war cabinet” who argued against the detainee policies. Those policies said the United States was not obligated to abide by the Geneva Conventions in its treatment of enemy combatants.
Under questioning from NBC’s Tim Russert, Powell declined to say that he would support the Republican Party nominee for president next year. Powell did say something interesting, though:
“he has not ruled out returning to public service and had no favorite in the presidential race. “I make myself available to talk about foreign policy matters with whoever wishes to chat with me,” he said in response to a question about his twice meeting with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).
Good for Obama. It would also be good for any, possibly all, presidential candidates on the Democratic and Republican side to sit down and pick the brain of a man who has “been there, done that” when it comes to sending men and women into battle, while also being the front man for U.S. foreign policy.
