Колин Пауэллдің бұрынғы бас штабының сыншысы: Лоуренс Уилкерсонның саяси көзқарастары

Chief of Staff to Colin Powell

Lawrence B. Wilkerson (born June 15, 1945) is a retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Since the end of his military career, Wilkerson has criticized many aspects of the Iraq War, including his own preparation of Powell's presentation to the United Nations Security Council, as well as other aspects of American policy in the Middle East, as well as criticizing Israel.

Since his retirement from the public sector Wilkerson has on several occasions spoken out against what he perceives as the poor planning and execution of the Iraq War as well as the global politics leading up to and following it. In particular he has denounced the decision making process of the Bush administration and Vice President Dick Cheney's and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's parts in it, and regularly describes the Bush administration as having been run by a neoconservative cabal. In the mid 2000s, he was a regular speaker at Ron Paul's Liberty Caucus. In a September 2006 conference call, Wilkerson expressed support for Wesley Clark and Anthony Zinni. He also endorsed Jim Webb against incumbent George Allen in the 2006 U. S. Senate election in Virginia.

Wilkerson said in an interview on the BBC's Newsnight, January 17, 2007, that an Iranian offer to help stabilise Iraq after the American invasion, was positively received at the State Department, yet turned down by Dick Cheney. The reported offer consisted of help in stabilizing Iraq, cutting ties with Hezbollah and greater transparency in its nuclear program in return for lifting sanctions and dismantling the Mujahedeen e Khalq, an organisation working to overthrow the Iranian government.

In 2016, Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute criticed Wilkerson for having "descended into a fevered swamp of conspiracy and hate." Rubin cited his Israel false flag theories about chemical weapons, alleged he "has flirted on the margins with 9/11 conspiracy theories", is regularly a guest on antisemitic state broadcasters Russia Today and Press TV, and is close to Lyndon LaRouche associate Robert Dreyfuss. In his comments strongly critiquing Israel he sometimes refers to Jewish lobbying. On November 17, 2023, in an interview to Dialogue Works, Wilkerson drew parallels between the zionist movement to the national socialist movement by saying, "These Zionists who are so zestful for other people's property and other people's territory, they don't seem to have a closure to their appetite. You know who they remind me of in that regard? They remind me of Adolf Hitler."

Wilkerson showed concern over the Trump Administration's foreign policy behavior, particularly on Iran and Trump's work against the Iran nuclear deal. In September 2018, Wilkerson further said that the neoconservative agenda regarding war on Syria and Iran also threatens conflict between the U. S. and Russia and the long term bogging down of U. S. military forces in major conflict. Wilkerson stated: "My serious concern is about the way U. S. National Security Advisor John Bolton and others in their positions of power now are orchestrating a scenario whereby Donald Trump, for political reasons or whatever, can use force in a significant way against Assad and ultimately Iran, because Iran's forces are there, and ultimately against Russia, because their forces are there in Syria, and this is most disquieting." The neoconservatives' military plan, argues Wilkerson, is "a recipe for" the U. S. military being in the region for "the next generation" with significant force "mired even deeper in this morass" and with the "day after day" attrition of dollars and lives. Unreliable source: date=November 2022

Wilkerson stated in a 2022 Massachusetts Peace Action YouTube video, that climate change and nuclear war overshadow all other concerns. In a May 2022 editorial for the Quincy Institute, he considered the role of the U. S. and other militaries in coping with famines that result from climate change and war.

Wilkerson married Barbara Ann Wilkerson in 1966, just before he entered the Vietnam War. They had two children, a son and a daughter, who both served in the military. Wilkerson heads the Colin Powell Leadership Club, a group of MacFarland middle school students in Washington, D. C.

Wilkerson was the 2009 recipient of the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence.