Three stories from the mourning after: Exit Powell • Banana Republicans • He's Dead Now

SEVERAL years ago, I was attending a youth conference organised by two former leaders of the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California.

Elaine Brown, one of the organisers, said from the podium that "Colin Powell is Clarence Thomas, armed and dangerous."

She's wrong. Clarence Thomas is one of our nine Supreme Court Injustices. His ascension to the high court was notable not merely because he was the second African-American to serve in his position but because his confirmation hearings were marred by revelations of sexual harassment.

Justice Thomas enjoyed discussing hair from the nether regions and pornography with a female colleague.

Thomas is one of the most right-wing members of the court.

Ever since the first slave revolt was betrayed, there have been Uncle Toms sell-outs. Powell, however — US citizens unremittingly pronounce his name "colon" — is not one of them.

Powell has a dignity, a self-respect that Uncle Toms lack — his own son, Michael, included.

Powell's mistake is that he took this claptrap about the "American dream" a little too seriously and he served a little too willingly as Bush's hit man — I mean, "point man" — in the UN.

His departure from Bush's inner circle does not mean that The Crazies — as we affectionately call Wolfowitz & Co — have triumphed.

They had already won their victory, because Powell never felt that it was his duty to question his God's orders.

If Bush had commanded Powell to commit hara-kiri, this good little samurai would have.

Powell is not a cowardly, cringing slave, but he is a willing one.

IN 2000, Democratic Party candidate Al Gore conceded the presidential election before all the votes had been recounted.

In 2004, John Kerry conceded before all the votes had been counted.

If this trend continues, in 2008, the Democrats will probably concede before the vote.

The demonstrators in the former Soviet republic of the Ukraine seem to care more about democracy than US citizens.

Next to them, John "Concede Before They're Counted" Kerry looks like Chicken Kiev.

And have you noticed that all the glitches that we see in the US voting system, especially as we move into the era of electronic voting, always seem to benefit Bush and not the Democrats?

I STAYED at home on Thanksgiving Day listening to the radio. As I aimlessly explored the airwaves, one station suddenly came in crystal clear.

"This is Radio Free America. If you were shocked by that US marine executing an unarmed, wounded Iraqi, then, boy, you don't know American history. Let me take you back to Chicago, 1969.

"At 4.45am on December 4, the police, working closely with the FBI, raided the headquarters of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party, ostensibly to conduct a search. Instead, 98 shots were fired into the building in nine minutes.

"BPP chairman Fred Hampton never woke. There was evidence he may have been drugged before the raid by an FBI and police informant who confessed that he had been ordered to infiltrate the Black Panther Party and to make a map of the floor plans of Fred Hampton's house.

"One of the survivors heard the cops enter Fred Hampton's bedroom, remark that he was still alive and then fire shots. Hampton was only 21 years old.

"The whole point of the raid was — to quote a secret FBI memo — to 'neutralise' Fred Hampton.

'He's dead now?' We've heard it before."

The DJ continued. "The police and FBI immediately issued a series of half-truths and falsehoods to cover themselves. Anyone who dared to question their story was slapped with a libel suit.

"The police and FBI claimed, for instance, that the Black Panthers had, in fact, been the ones shooting at the police.

"To back up this theory, they brought in paid forensics experts, who claimed that holes in the walls of the Panther headquarters were 'evidence' that bullets had exited the building. A civilian investigative committee later proved that these holes had in fact been made by nails, not bullets.

"Compelling evidence finally forced the authorities to admit their culpability and pay the victims' families $1.85 million in damages. "Just imagine who the black 'leaders' would be today if men like Hampton had not been murdered."

Colin Powell was no Clarence Thomas, I thought, but he was no Fred Hampton, either.

Then, as suddenly as lightning, the station went dead.

Coda: I SAW Michael Moore yesterday, his first television appearance since the election. He looked well, defeated. God help us all.

• Professor Jonathan David Farley's work on counterterrorism was recently profiled in The New York Times. He can be contacted at farley@maths.ox.ac.uk