[Naptowne]

Perhaps by "we" he meant the United States of America. You know, the country he spent his entire adult life serving.

I lurk on this site and have seen no reason to post in the past, but the vitriol and hatred expressed toward a great American like Colin Powell is outrageous. His comments are no different than the comments made by Condoleeza Rice last week, except for the fact that Powell actually is an expert on military strategy and the region. I am not one of the people who thinks that Iraq is a failure and a waste of time, and neither is Powell. He was simply stating a fact which is that the military strategists at the Pentagon and in the Administration did not adequately prepare for and expect the insurgency and this is supported by their own comments. The purpose of war is to impose your will on a nation through force, and having a larger invasion force and a more aggressive strategy following the collapse of Sadaam would have gone a long way toward doing just that. After all, Powell was the only military expert among the President's cabinet members. The naive ideologues like Richard Pearles and Doug Fifes who thought that everyone in Iraq was going to come out and sing kombaya with our troops are the reasons why the insurgency was able to grow and organize. We should have declared martial law and imposed strict curfews in the Sunni areas from the beginning, rather than thinking the war was over when we pulled down a statue.

People should also remember that if it wasn't for Colin Powell's hard work and foresight before 9/11 the US would not have been able to have such quick access to military bases all over south Asia to attack Afghanistan. Bush lost his to most efficient cabinet members when Powell and Ashcroft left the administration.

[Berlin_Freeper]

"Perhaps by "we" he meant the United States of America."

Powell is a single man who can only speak for himself, NOT America. He needs to make clear what HIS mistakes were at the very least before pointing fingers at others.

President Bush was reelected with the most votes in US history WITHOUT Powell. Both you and Powell best remember that or yes, we will be pointing out the facts.

[Berlin_Freeper]

"I lurk on this site and have seen no reason to post in the past"

Actually what you are is a Powell butt-sucker Troll that just signed up on FR. One that never makes sense nor cares to make any sense, just so long as you keep getting reply after reply.

See my about me page idiot. That means YOU.

[jpsb]

"military strategists at the Pentagon and in the Administration did not adequately prepare"

No quite true, the were a few that saw the error before it happened (too few troops) and said as much, they were fired, so these days no active military of any rank will speak out.

[MamaB]

Powell should have left long before he did. He may have served this country but that does not make him a great American. A great American is someone like my older brother who was in the Air Force and said he was willing to go to Iraq except for one huge problem. He is in his 70's and has all the health problems due to flying through mushroom clouds. He is my hero!