[Kevmo]

That’s exactly the same thing I heard. Also, he was asked to come up with a plan for invading Iraq in Gulf War I, and it was pure, “over the top, infantry swarming against tanks & machine guns like WWI” with tens of thousands of anticipated American casualties. He was asked if he wouldn’t mind having some other generals give it a fresh look, and Schwartzkopf came up with his plan within a matter of moments, and Powell was politely asked not to be involved in the strategic planning after that. Soon afterwards, his military career was over.

[Mad_as_heck]

Powell was an inside the beltway political general: Good at negotiating contracts for new bed pans but not interested in doing the hard and messy things that are risky and might not advance your carrier. I once thought so much of him. A real disappointment.

I think one of the real mistakes we made in this war made inevitable by the disbanding of the "big army" we still had at the time of the Gulf War. The success of the surge is showing that we needed far more boots on the ground to clamp down like a vice from day one and prevent trouble from getting started.

Clinton's "peace dividend" fantasies have cost us a fortune. And Powell is not entirely guiltless on that front either.