"Did Not Oppose"

Colin Powell's Reputation Rehabilitation Tour '08 takes a turn with his high-profile endorsement of Barack Obama. Check out the intriguing phrase his biographer, Washington Post reporter Karen DeYoung, uses to describe the former secretary of state's involvement with, err, that whole Iraq unpleasantness.

"Powell did not oppose the 2003 decision to invade the country. "

Well, yes, that is certainly one way to describe the man who aggressively marketed the war before the United Nations. Cue the Feb. 5, 2003 speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6WuTSTyS8
I admire DeYoung's reporting but in this case her phrasing, I think, soft-peddles the facts in a way that may be unintentionally revealing about Powell's current priority as well a reporter's own agenda. She is serving Powell's interest in distancing himself from a debacle, trying to get on the right side of history. Moreover, by casting the case in this highly sympathetic fashion, the reporter is maintaining access to the source.