Posted on 05/01/2006 6:40:58 AM PDT by NotchJohnson
POWELL WANTED MORE TROOPS
Headline this morning screams 'COLIN POWELL WANTED MORE TROOPS IN IRAQ!' What does this mean? Well, it means once again, that the entire Bush Administration and the United States Military is filled with morons, and only Colin Powell had the answer --- oh, and the media, of course. Actually not really. But that's what Democrats and the mainstream media would have you believe.
Colin Powell said he didn't think there were enough troops in Iraq after the war to impose order. Fine...he's right. There weren't enough troops there to impose order. But can't anyone with 2 eyeballs see that...not just Colin Powell? In addition, this was up to the Generals in the field...they were asked time and time again if they needed more troops. They said they did not.
During the time in question, Colin Powell was the Secretary of State, not the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President of the United States or the Defense Secretary. His opinion, while well-qualified, was just that..an opinion. Did we need more troops in the aftermath of the war? Maybe, but maybe not.
What we really needed to do was not fire the entire Iraqi Army...and have them impose order. We also needed to crack down on the Baghdad looters on day one. There is where the tone for lawlessness was established. Thank you, Paul Bremer. But Colin Powell's comments will get all the press and attention...but it's really too late for them to mean anything. Unless Powell is selling a book or running for office or something.
You got it wrong, Jim. He is being sarcastic and laying the blame for failed diplomacy at Powell's feet - where it belongs.
Powell was a footdragger from the get-go. Like Shinseki, he would not have gone to war without a build up like 1991, in Iraq OR Afghanistan. But in 1990 we had a very large force in Europe. One can ask Powell, OK, if Shinski was right, we could have occupied Iraq in 1991. Why didn't you? Because the "realists" in the Bush I administration were perfectly willing to let Saddam stay in place as a check on the Iranians. It was assumed that as in the case of Libya, Iraq would have minded its manners, maybe replacing Saddam with someone else But they didn't know their boy. Twelves years later he was still in power and on the verge of breaking the embargo.
Determining troop levels is the responsibility of the commanding generals involved and the Secretary of Defense, not the Secretary of State. Of course, Powell's views should have been (and probably were) considered, but when the generals and SecDef hold a different view, theirs overrides his, as it should.
The problem was all logistics, you can't put ten pounds of flour in a five pound bag. Turkey could have allowed the 4th ID, that would have added 25k+ in the Kirkuk-Mosul area that has been a major insurgency area largely because abandoned Iraqi bases there were raided for munitions.
Launching from Kuwait gave us no room for the massive supplies needed for a larger operation. We pushed through as many troops as could be fed and moved.
We had not spent many years preparing for this fight, thanks Bill Clinton, ya idiot. Did he never think we needed an end game for Iraq? That's where much of the blame lies, when 9/11 hit we weren't ready for the degree of deployments soon to come.
I agree 7thson.......and by the way we did see that. Patton was what every military man should aspire to be. His men would have walked over hot coals for him....matter of fact, that would have probably been easier compared to what they did go through. Point is, he knew how to win......wars and the respect of his men. Few and far between nowadays.
That could be his ticket -- McCain/Powell. Turns my stomach.
That could be his ticket -- McCain/Powell. Turns my stomach.
Powell has a reputation of being fiercely loyal to the United States and to the Commander-in-Chief.
If thats true, he just trashed it. I would bet this reputation has been inaccurate all along.
It is true that Powell did want more troops and stated this in 2002.
And its true that Powell was wrong in 2002. We have never been outmanned in Iraq.
He was wounded in Vietnam for Christ's sake.
Then he should cut out the unpatriotic talk.
Why discredit an American who served with honor?
Serving with honor in the past is not a free ticket for unrestrained traitorous behavior in the future.
It is not treason to discuss the overall strategy of a war in a democracy. Powell's comments may be distasteful and erroneous, but he is not treasonous.
I know people who know General Powell, and say he is a very good and upright man in his private character. To bandy charges of treason in these cases trivializes treason.
He is wrong. Can we leave it at that? Must we as conservatives constantly go to the level of petty abuse that we would hear on Air America or would read on DU?
Your overuse of the word treason is conspicuous. Notice that I didnt use the word, because at this point treason is not my focus. Definitely traitorous and unpatriotic though.
What good does Powell think his comments will do? Spoken in this time when he is not part of the administration, they can only be politically motivated. His words certainly undermine Bushs Iraq policy, arguably contributing to more American deaths in that they embolden the enemy.
If restraint is called for, it should be the naysayers who pipe down. The petty abuse is perpetrated by those who want to turn our military victory in Iraq into a political defeat at home.
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