Too Bad Powell Didn't Manage Principled Exit.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(ON THE LEFT)

Publication: Investor's Business Daily

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Byline: RICHARD COHEN

With his indecision, with his occasional vacillation, someone is bound to conjure up Hamlet in reference to Colin Powell. Not to quibble, but it is Macbeth who comes to my mind -- specifically his soliloquy that begins, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly."

The pity is not that Colin Powell has resigned as secretary of state. The pity is that he did not do so quickly. Had he resigned during the buildup to the war in Iraq, which he privately opposed, history might award him an asterisk and note his tenure as secretary of state, while notable for nothing notable, ended over an important disagreement.

Had that happened,...

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