But it wasn't his gut that he went with. The general reporting is that Powell was against the war, against the fiction of an imminent threat, against the "intel

But it wasn't his gut that he went with. The general reporting is that Powell was against the war, against the fiction of an imminent threat, against the "intelligence" he was advancing. He chose to go against that and do as he was told. That's what makes him a tragic figure. (That's the narrative, anyway. Obviously at this distance there's no way to know if it's true, but based on everything I read and heard at the time, I believe it.) Other parts of the presentation seem ironic, too: Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off. Don't be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred... Don't be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard. Painfully ironic, in the light of history. Two points, though. First, no one who hasn't been in that situation has a right to claim that he wouldn't do the same thing. Second, Powell was not the leader.