Colin Powell Being Colin Powell

By Robert Parry
September 13, 2005

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is pinning the blame for his false Iraq testimony before the United Nations in 2003 not on his superiors in the Bush administration nor on ex-CIA director George Tenet – but “on some people in the intelligence community” at lower levels.

In his first extensive interview since his resignation early this year, Powell told ABC News that his reputation has suffered because his assurances about Iraq’s supposed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons proved false.

“It’s a blot,” Powell said. “I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now.”