Posted on 12/17/2006 5:14:36 PM PST by STARWISE
The former secretary of state Colin Powell said Sunday that badly overstretched U.S. forces in Iraq were losing the war there and that a temporary U.S. troop surge probably would not help.
In one of his few commentaries on the war since leaving office, Powell quickly added that the situation could be reversed. He recommended an intense coalition effort to train and support Iraqi security forces and strengthen the government in Baghdad. Powell was deeply skeptical about increasing troop levels, an idea that appears to be gaining ground as President George W. Bush weighs U.S. strategy options.
"There really are no additional troops" to send, Powell said, adding that he agreed with those who say that the U.S. Army is "about broken."
He said he was unsure that new troops could suppress sectarian violence or secure Baghdad.
He urged the United States to do everything possible to prepare Iraqis to take over lead responsibility; the "baton pass," he said, should begin by mid-2007.
"We are losing — we haven't lost — and this is the time, now, to start to put in place the kinds of strategies that will turn this situation around," Powell said on CBS-TV.
(snip)
Powell endorsed .... group idea: opening talks with Syria and Iran.
He has kept a low public profile since leaving office in January 2005, but has emerged at points in the debate over Iraq to weigh in, as when he said that Iraq was embroiled in civil war.
(snip)
A troop increase, he said Sunday, "cannot be sustained." The thousands of additional U.S. soldiers sent into Baghdad since the summer had been unable to stabilize the city and more probably could not tip the balance, Powell said. The deployment of further troops would, moreover, impose long-term costs on a badly stretched military.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Armchair general PING!
Let's see...when was the last time I cared what Powell thought? Oh, that's right...it was never.
Ping
I hung on with this back stabbing, inside the beltway game player longer than some here...and they were right, and I was wrong.
I sometimes fantasize that Alma Powell opposed her husband running for president because she knows he is unworthy, but that's probably just me being a pollyanna.
Powell and his like are doing much to undermine our soldiers in the field.
I was wrong about him too. I had respect for him at one time.
Powell would never have made corporal in General Patton's WWII army.
Didn't Powell work for the former President who 'broke' it?!!!
Powell wants to appease terrorists just like he wanted to appease the USSR. As an advisor to Reagan, Powell OPPOSED Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech because he thought it was divisive!!
I have a lot of respect for Colin Powell but, with all due respect to him, IMO, the only thing the troops are losing in Iraq is the PR battle with the treasonous MSM and their leftist fellow travelers.
Powell...an inside source (aka snitch) for Woodward's books.
If he had dared to pull what he did on the CIC and Patton was around, I shudder to think of his fate.
I agree except for your respect for Powell. He thinks he is president.
What a treasonous b*st*rd! Stabbing the President and the DoD in the back (metaphorically I mean). Thanks a lot Colin Powell. The Army is 'about broken'? Did somebody tell General Abizaid that?
I din't believe that in the past but I have for several years due to his actions.
Powell was always a political officer. Has almost no Command time. No surprise he parrots what his political masters tell me to say. It how he has always got ahead.
Forgive me, but isn't Powell an actual (if retired) general, not an arm-chair general?
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