New US president must learn all lessons of Bush’s stupid adventures

Respectful US diplomat Charles Freeman described the period of George W. Bush’s presidency as the stage of stupid adventures that weakened the United States. The official believes that the new US president must change the home and foreign policies of the nation, Saudi newspaper Al-Watan wrote Sunday.

Former Ambassador Charles Freeman, who chaired the US mission in Saudi Arabia from 1989 to 1992 (during Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi occupation) said in an interview with the newspaper that the current US administration exhausted its friends, weakened its allies and eventually exhausted and weakened the United States itself.

The diplomat, which replaced Senator George McGovern at the chairman of the US Council for Middle East Policy in 1997, set out a hope that the period of stupid adventures was over. The official added that the new US president must learn the lessons of Bush’s presidency well.

In the meantime, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says that former secretary of state Colin Powell is welcome to campaign for him and might have a place in his administration.

Powell crossed party lines Sunday and endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Obama told NBC's "Today" show Monday that Powell "will have a role as one of my advisers." Whether Powell wants to take a formal role, Obama said, would be "something we'd have to discuss."

Obama said Powell, a retired four-star general, did not tell him ahead of time that he'd be making the endorsement. At the time, Powell said he didn't plan to campaign for Obama before the Nov. 4 election, the AP reports.

Obama said he would love to have Powell on the campaign trail.