It's news, but no big secret

What is really so amazing about former State Department Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson's speech yesterday is how obviously true the parts about the administration's secrecy were. The fact that the words are coming from a member of the Bush administration makes it big news. But beginning with Dick Cheney's secret energy meetings during their first year in office, it should be clear to everybody that these guys don't like to share. Wilkerson's point that the secrecy itself is an obstacle to success by its very nature of exclusion is a lesson for future administrations.

As Lawrence O'Donnell said in his interview with John Amato at Crooks and Liars, Colin Powell would probably run away with the 2008 election if he were Dick Cheney's replacement as VP. But Wilkerson also confirmed and reinforced, despite his respect for his former boss, that Powell's loyalty to this administration trumped any feelings of loyalty to either the truth or the public.

Chris Matthews is correct when he says that the nukes were the "deal maker" for many Americans when it came to Iraq in 2002. But the fact that Powell was even in this administration, let alone the fact that he was the one trying to persuade the U.N., is what convinced many of us to give Bush the benefit of the doubt.

That is, until Bush kicked out the inspectors and rushed into war.