Posted on 04/30/2006 5:35:06 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell advised President Bush before the Iraq war to send more troops to the country, but the administration did not follow his recommendation, Powell said in an interview broadcast Sunday.
Critics accuse Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of failing to send enough soldiers to secure the peace in Iraq after the invasion three years ago.
Powell said he gave the advice to now retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who developed and executed the Iraq invasion plan, and Rumsfeld while the president was present.
"I made the case to Gen. Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld before the president that I was not sure we had enough troops," Powell said in an interview on Britain's ITV television, according to a transcript released by the network. "The case was made, it was listened to, it was considered. ... A judgment was made by those responsible that the troop strength was adequate."
Powell, who served as chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Gulf War, is known for his belief in deploying decisive force with a clear exit strategy in any conflict.
"The president's military advisers felt that the size of the force was adequate, they may still feel that years later. Some of us don't, I don't," Powell said. "In my perspective, I would have preferred more troops but you know, this conflict is not over."
"At the time the president was listening to those who were supposed to be providing him with military advice," Powell said. "They were anticipating a different kind of immediate aftermath of the fall of Baghdad, it turned out to be not exactly as they had anticipated."
Rumsfeld has rejected criticism that he had sent too few U.S. troops to Iraq, saying that Franks and two other generals who oversaw the campaign's planning - John Abizaid and George Casey - had determined the overall number of troops, and that he and Bush agreed with them.
Shut up Powell.
to do what? provide more targets for roadside bombs? considering the level of offensive operations we conducted in iraq after the fall of Saddam, we had plenty of troops there to handle that.
I wish he'd shut his damned colon and quit trying to be the drama queen.
He is taking any possible blame for the war away from himself.
That said even Rummy would admit today that more troops were needed to police Iraq after the war, but they wouldn't have been needed if Bremer didn't disband the Iraqi Army against the plan Abazaid created and that Bush signed off on.
Another ex-Army guy who wants more troops. Go figure.
Bush is going to regret playing affirmative action with his cabinet. If he'd done the same as Clinton, he'd been better off. Powell is going against him and now Rice says there is nothing wrong with the National Anthem in Spanish.
Is Powell runing for something (UN chief, Pres) or just trying to clean up his image (distance himself from his history)?
Well, you weren't the one that was going to be running the attack, were you, Colin?
I wanted to bet a million dollars for the Steelers to win the Super Bowl. I knew from the beggining of the season they were going to win. I was telling everybody. In fact I knew they would be playing the Seahawks. I wanted to bet a million dollars Seahawks would make it to the Super Bowl. In fact, I was going to bet the numbers that came in the Mega Millions last week........
Yeah, let's take advice from the guy who got cold feet the first time we invaded Iraq.
If Colin didn't chicken out, we would have taken care of the Sadaam problem in 1991.
That he would join in this kind of criticism during a time of war tells me all I need to know.
Now I know Franks and Rumsfeld were right.
In a word. For various reasons he is a bitter man. He should not have been chosen from day one for Secretary of State. Bush did not think this one out to well quite frankly.
I didn't hear that until here.
Just lost full respect for Rice.
Your post, ditto!
The Iraqi army had zero credibility with the non-Sunni population.
In his book Franks said the call for more troops was "Desert Storm II", an out of date plan using obsolete tactics and unnecessary levels of troop deployments.
History has shown Franks to be correct. The only hitch in the plan was Turkey's last minute withdrawal of support which caused all troops to be deployed from the south and allowed the Baathists near Baghdad too long to set up th resistance.
He's stuck in the old way of fighting wars when you had a clear enemy, in uniforms of a country, and there was at least some semblance of rules of war.He, like the other retired military, have their noses out of joint.
Thank God for Rummy. I cannot imagine where we'd be if we were using the old models. Not to mention, if the boots on the ground couldn't make a decision in the heat of battle until it went up through and back down the chain...Viet Nam style
He should speak to the Generals who were actually making the decisions. I believe they got all the soldiers for whom they asked.
Now that you mention it .... wasn't that Powell's (SOS) job? Why was he worrying about troop levels when he was supposed to make sure Turkey followed through? I hadn't thought about that for a long time, but it seems to me that Powell is forgetting about that aspect and his lack of accomplishment in getting Turkey to do their part.
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