I had a chance to hear Colin Powell speak on Tuesday in Washington D.C. at the AFCEA TechNet 2006 Conference. I thought his speech was great. Little did I know about Mr. Powell's humor. The speech touched on leadership, politics, military, technology, and his life's journey. I was amazed at the depth of his understanding current technology issues.

One area that I didn't agree with was his anti-Michael Moore comments. Why does the mainstream political leadership disrespect Michael Moore so much? Is it fear? Does Michael Moore speak truth or folly? Here's truth - U.S. military deaths continue to mount in Iraq - we are over 2,500 at this time. Does Powell have any remorse regarding the handling of the Iraqi war? He commented that we should have deployed more troops in the region. I was rather surprised by has candidness.

Moving on to other topics, Colin Powell sees the global playing field will focus on three key areas - economics, energy, and education.

I agree with him. I believe education is going to be the discriminator. From a macro perspective, the more educated a nation is the greater the advantage that nation will have on the global playing field. An educated nation will grow in economic standing. An educated nation will see the errors of fossil fuel energy dependency and seek out alternatives. An educated nation will solve problems such as affordable healthcare for all, environmental issues, intolerance of those who are different and crime.

A point of interest on the diplomatic front, if Powell could be granted one wish from a genie, he would wish for a Palestine state living side by side in peace with Israel.

Hopefully some day the genie will grant Colin Powell his wish!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive