Voice from the Commonwealth Commentary, World Views and Occasional Rants from a small 'l' libertarian in Massachussetts
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams
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Praise for Voice
"A smart fellow...I do like, recommend and learn from Barbera's blog." -Roger L. Simon
"Your blog is bullshit"- anonymous angry French reader.
QUESTION: Speaking frankly, Mr. Secretary, during this affair of Iraq, did you sometimes feel like a dove amongst the hawks in the White House?
SECRETARY POWELL: I am called many things -- hawk, dove, take your pick. I don't believe in labels, and I don't have to establish my credentials with anybody. I've been in war, I've fought wars, I've sent men into battle. I know what war is all about. I was a soldier for 35 years. My job now is to try and find peaceful solutions to problems. That's what my President values, my peaceful solutions to problems. And we work very hard, as we did in Iraq, to take it to the United Nations to find a peaceful solution.
But I also know as a soldier, that when you can't find a peaceful solution, a diplomatic solution, you must be prepared to use force. Because without force, why would anybody listen to diplomacy without the threat of force. And when diplomacy doesn't work and we threaten to use force, then we have to use that force from time to time. And so, I can be a dove when it seems appropriate, and when the dove is not able to achieve the purpose, I can assure you, I can be a hawk.
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