GOVERNMENT BY OP-ED: Michael Kinsley takes Colin Powell to task for disloyalty and indirection:

It must be hell to disagree with Colin Powell. Powell and Vice President Cheney apparently disagree about Iraq. Cheney thinks that Saddam Hussein must be toppled and any further diddling is pointless. Powell thinks … well, something else. Cheney made his opinion known by articulating and defending it in a speech. Powell’s view, if you read the papers literally, has spread by a mysterious process akin to osmosis. The secretary of state is “known to believe” or is pigeonholed by unnamed “associates” or (my favorite) has made his opinion known “quietly.”

Yes, he’s the champion of the passive voice. I think that Secretary Rice will do a better job.