Colin Powell Speaks on Terrorism and Immigration

As a registered Democrat, it should speak volumes for me to regard a member of the Republican party with such praise. It's a rarity, but Colin Powell is a rare kind of Republican.

While I agree that he made some mistakes as Secretary of State in the Bush White House, he has come clean about those mistakes and has redeemed himself, in my mind, through his straight-forwardness and honesty since Condoleeza Rice took over his duties.

As September 11th was on the horizon when this interview took place (9/10/07), Powell was inquired and spoke about terrorism and the threat it posed to the United States.

He said, "What is the greatest threat facing us now? People will say it's terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the great threat we are facing?"

In regard to immigration, Powell stated, "America could not survive without immigration. Even the undocumented immigrants are contributing to our economy. That's the country my parents came to. That's the image we have to portray to the rest of the world: kind, generous, a nation of nations, touched by every nation, and we touch every nation in return. That's what people still want to believe about us. They still want to come here. We've lost a bit of the image, but we haven't lost the reality yet. And we can fix the image by reflecting a welcoming attitude -- and by not taking counsel of our fears and scaring ourselves to death that everybody coming in is going to blow up something. It ain't the case."

I always saw Powell as, for lack of a better word, the minority of the Bush White House. I just received a vibe that he was left out of the loop by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Ashcroft, and company more times than not and whenever Powell had something important to say, his word was outnumbered by the coinciding words of others. Now that he's out of the White House, he needn't fear arguments or dissent against his opinion when he lets his thoughts and feelings be known. He can freely state them without any (well, usually) problem at all. While I know he won't run this upcoming year in the next presidential election, I hope that, in time, he will and hope that the man is given a chance in office. He has stated in the past that, due to the risk of family threats in being the first African-American president, hopefully he'll change his mind or perhaps another African-American will be elected before him without any problems occuring because of it. We shall wait and see, but in the meantime, keep the honest quotes a-coming, Mr. Powell. It's about time that someone who either is or was affiliated with the Bush White House is honest with the public.

Link:
http://infowars.com/articles/terror/collin_powell_terrorists_are_not_greatest_th