I should have the full transcript, complete with Questions & Answers, shortly.
I have published posts on Wilkerson’s talk here and here.
Until then, here are some of the most outstanding pieces of coverage of former State Department Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson’s comments yesterday which I moderated and chaired at the New America Foundation.
U.S. News & World Report
World Watch: Ex-State Official Blasts ‘Cheney-Rumsfeld’ Cabal
by Thomas Omestad
Financial Times
Cheney Cabal Hijacked U.S. Foreign Policy
by Edward Alden
Washington Post
Colonel Finally Saw Whites of Their Eyes
by Dana Milbank
Newsday
Powell’s Ex-Aide Rips Leaders
by Timothy M. Phelps
Asia Times/Inter-Press Service
U.S. Policy and the ‘Oval Office’ Cabal
by Jim Lobe
A partial transcript is available by clicking here. (Full transcript will be posted on TWN shortly.)
A full video link is available here.
I think Larry Wilkerson has done the nation a great service by sharing his perspectives on the national security decision making process and how far this administration has diverged from the 1947 National Security Act.
His loyalty to Colin Powell is clear in his talk. They have worked together for more than 16 years.
But it’s clear that Wilkerson felt he had to go farther than Powell and Richard Armitage probably ever will — at least while President Bush is still in office — because of the loyalty that Col. Lawrence Wilkerson feels to the nation as a whole. Although some don’t understand, Richard Armitage and Colin Powell feel that it is important to maintain a decorum and etiquette of public loyalty and obeisance to the Commander in Chief, in public and private life. Wilkerson has clearly struggled with this — but he should be applauded for his decision to reveal his views and perspective.
I have written about the need for some kind of “Conscience of a Conservative” award, based on Barry Goldwater’s book, and Wilkerson is another who by doing the right thing deserves a place on such a roster of truly admirable citizens.
— Steve Clemons
