Thank you for helping commemorate the fifth anniversary of the biggest sucker deal in Manhattan since Peter Minuit bought the place.

At least the Native Americans got trinkets. All we got from Colin Powell’s 2/5/03 U.N. presentation — and the media’s unquestioning praise for it — was a costly and unnecessary war.

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Very special thanks go out to Blue Gal at Crooks & Liars, and to those who contributed heartfelt and thoughtful posts to this little memory book.

Because about some things, our memories shouldn’t be little, nor should our capacity to question.

See you next year!

Same time, new president. A good one, I hope.

At Maine Owl, The Owl well remembers the day Powell threw us a Curveball and digs into the archives for a chilling timeline of the days of shame that followed the boffo U.N. anthrax-and-pony show. Highly recommended reading.

James at The Mahatma X Files recalls what he said on the first anniversary: “one the most infamous acts of Propaganda in World history. We must never forget.”

A Poetic Justice suggests giving peace a chance.

For Alan Perlman, AKA “The Jewish Atheist,” the Day of Shame doesn’t quite bring on a peaceful, easy feeling. He sees Powell as “a magnificent example of affirmative action run amok.”

When asked about his, IMHO, provocative statements about the role of race in Powell’s career, Dr. Perlman replied thusly:  Read more 

Elayne Riggs holds out hope that Barack Obama is the anti-Powell.

QSR (Quick Service Restaurant News):

2008-02-04 — The Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) today announced this year’s lineup of keynote speakers for the 2008 WFF Annual Leadership Development Conference, to be held April 13–16 in Washington, D.C. at the new Gaylord National® Resort & Convention Center.

General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.), one of the most admired men in America, will deliver a compelling presentation reflecting his years of service at the highest levels of international affairs. He will be speaking on leadership to illustrate precisely what embodies a true leader and demonstrate how to consistently be focused and take responsibility while working to improve processes, organizations and people.

Still doing “compelling presentations” after all these years. No wonder he’s so admired!

Driftglass marks the Day of Shame with pictures, poetry, and heartfelt prose:

The number of dead Iraqis, who might as well be so many Pac Man dots, so little do they matter to us as real, live human beings anymore. Not that they ever did, really.  Read more 

On February 7, 2003, Slacktavist described Powell’s presentation thusly:

“POWELL’S EVIDENCE LOOKING SHAKY. No smoking gun, lots of smoke and mirrors.”

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s 20/20 hindsight. Goddamn hippies!

See also Editor and Publisher on “5 Years Ago: When the Press Helped Colin Powell Sell the War.”

(Both h/t atrios)

The internets are chock full of handy lists.

An oft-posted one is “Colin Powell’s Rules to Live By,” which is generally set up with a gushy intro, like this one:  Read more 

If you look around YouTube, you’ll find that the MSM’s Powell/U.N. postmortems are all about rehabilitating the general’s reputation.

So, it’s left to the blogosphere, and great work like Jonathan Schwarz’s, to painstakingly detail the shameful lies.

According to blogger Montag, there was a precedent for Powell’s presentation, a long time ago. In a galaxy far, far away.

And if you like things a little more outré, Lambert blurbs MJS’s “Bad Magician” series thusly:  Read more 

Here is the first helping of contributions to the Day of Shame blogswarm, 2008…

In reply to this year’s call-to-action, whaleshaman muses about that vial of non-anthrax.

Batocchio’s superb analysis, like Gaul, is divided into three parts. With understatement that burns, Batocchio says “It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, knowing we were almost certainly going to war based on flimsy reasons.”  Read more 

[Welcome, Crooks & Liars readers!]

dayofshame.com was created to promote observances and analyses of the run-up to the Iraq War and of the fateful day when the reality-based community seemingly lost its charter. And we’re looking for you to help recollect, commiserate, and if possible, make sense of it all.

On February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations to rally support for an invasion of Iraq.

His presentation contained little substance and numerous obvious flaws, and the international community was unimpressed.

America’s mainstream media, however, declared it “compelling.”  Read more