WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2006
Powell: We Are Losing In Iraq
Exclusive: Former Secretary Of State Says More Troops Are Not The Answer
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Powell: Can We Win?
FTN 12.17.2006, part 1: Bob Schieffer talked to Former Secretary of State General Colin Powell about the war in Iraq and what it will take to win.
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Powell On Rumsfeld
FTN 12.17.06, part 2: General Powell talked about how history will judge Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and what to do with Iran and Syria.
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Iraq: A Turning Point?
New Congress, change at the Pentagon, study group report; what does the future hold?
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Iraq Study Group Report
Bipartisan commission warns that situation is "grave and deteriorating."
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Iraq Insurgency
More on the militant groups behind the insurgency in Iraq and their motivations.
Powell said he agreed with the assessment of the Iraq Study Group co-chairmen, Lee Hamilton and James Baker, that the situation in Iraq is "grave and deteriorating," and he also agreed with recently-confirmed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that the U.S. is not winning the war.
"So if it's grave and deteriorating and we're not winning, we are losing," Powell told Bob Schieffer in an exclusive interview. "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."
President George W. Bush is considering several options for a new strategy in Iraq. The most likely choice would be to send tens of thousands of additional troops for an indefinite period to quickly secure Baghdad.
A 3,500-man brigade from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to Kuwait soon after the holidays, CBS News correspondent David Martin reported on Friday. The troops would be available immediately should the president order a surge into Iraq.
There are about 134,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now.
Powell, also a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he did not see the military benefit of flooding Baghdad with American troops.
"I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence, this civil war, will work," he said, adding that the Iraqi government and security forces must take over.
"It is the D.C. police force that guards Washington, D.C., not the troops that are stationed at Fort Myer," Powell said. "And in Baghdad, you need a police force to do that, and in the other cities, you need a police force to do that, and not the American troops."
Powell also doubted that the U.S. Army and Marine Corps are large enough to support such an operation.
"The current active Army is not large enough and the Marine Corps is not large enough for the kinds of missions they're being asked to perform," Powell said. "We need to let both the Army and the Marine Corps grow in size, in my military judgment."
Asked directly what the U.S. should do in Iraq, Powell said:
"I think that what we should do is to work with the Iraqi government, press them on the political peace, do everything we can to provide equipment, advisers, and whatever the Iraqi armed forces need to become more competent, and to train their leaders so that those leaders realize their responsibility to the government."
Powell, who as a member of the Bush Administration pushed the international community to sanction the invasion of Iraq, said that we are not safer now after nearly four years of fighting.
"I think we are a little less safe, in the sense that we don't have the same force structure available for other problems," Powell said. "I think we have been somewhat constrained in our ability to influence events elsewhere."
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See all 301 Commentsshows you how much the president likes to surround himself with people who possess dissenting opinions.
1) Bleed the treasury & taxpayer
2) Bleed the millitary
3) Bleed states rights
4) Bleed public saftey
5) Bleed government oversight
He's a world bleeder!!
he turned to the missus and said "that ain't no "stay the course" tune" ...
Sure, now he agrees to disagree, but he was instrumental in getting us into the war as he was in Bushes Right Pocket! Now we are in "grave and deteriorating" condition. Sounds like shades of words about the Vietnam Conflict! Thanks to Bush!
What the he11 is sending more bodies in going to do???
The Bush regime is going to find more ways to keep this thing going and keep our guys over there for more years- keeps Bush's buddies at Haliburton et al in money.
The President, as elected representative of the American people should not only listen to us, but perhaps the educated intellectuals that were put together to study this closely. We're all saying the same thing. GET OUT!!!
Why does he continue to defy this???
Colin Powell is a brilliant and loyal man, and I appreciate him speaking out now, but perhaps he should have resisted harder against the war in the first place. There's no one I pity more than this man who was forced before the international community to endorse this war that he knew wouldn't work.
Just curious..
James T. Mitchell
Tucson, AZ
That said, when it comes to his opinion if we are or are not losing the war, I'll take his advice over the Chimp and Darth Vader anytime. Unlike them he actually knows what a war looks like other then as toys moved around on a map in the situation room.
Just curious..
Posted by AriKindalg at 01:06 PM : Dec 17, 2006
Not a single one. Bush is finally down to his base, the very rich who are making money off from the war and the very stupid who are too ignorant to believe they've been had.
He needs to go take personal command of the fighting. He needs to rally the troops in person. He needs to take those scary drives and risk those IED's in person.
Julius Caesar knew that that was the gesture he needed to make in Gaul. In battle Caesar wore a purple robe to distinguish himself from his men -- as if to say to the Gauls, "Here I am ! Bring it on !!"
That's the one thing Bush could do to turn this from a defeat to victory.
Man I'd love to have a copy of them! ***! Lucky sob!
When he was President, Bill Clinton was the target of a failed assassination attempt.
The next day he went jogging with only one or two Secret Service agents. He was wearing a sweatshirt with a big bulls-eye on it, and the words "In the Line of Fire," a reference to the Clint Eastwood movie about a deranged presidential assassin.
Clinton had his faults, but he did have guts and bravado, which are sadly lacking in the smirking coward in the Oval Office now.
I am the old man who predicted this *** when Bush was elected. No matter how much I raved, I had no power to stop it, and last week one of my rich friends who supported Bush (went to Europe.
Our only hope to redeem ourselves to the World is to quickly and uncerimoniously impeach Bush, Cheney and Condi.
There will be no hope for America in the eyes of the world until we (the holder's of Democracy) Impeach. It is the only way to save face.
Ed Cates
Re: "This man saw what was coming and did nothing to stop it.He took an oath to uphold and protect the constitution,not George W.Bush.All you ever heard out of the whole bunch of them was,"I serve at the PLEASURE of the President".We can now see where that led to.The President is an employee of the American people and a temporary one at that.The constitution is our abiding promise of a government by and for the people.Powell is in violation of the oath he took when appointed to the office of secretary of State.He is complicit in this whole disaster we now face.He has no honor,and is therefore a disgrace to the uniform he once wore."
Dead on! Please post often!
http://www.omnimap.com I'm not sure if they have the map number GNC-12 which covers Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordon, Kuwait, and Turkey, these maps show maps every detail, elevation heights, roads, railways, airports as well as military installations.
http://www.omnimap.com/cgi/graphic.pl?images/ind-for/gnc-n.jpg
"What the he11 is sending more bodies in going to do???
The Bush regime is going to find more ways to keep this thing going and keep our guys over there for more years- keeps Bush's buddies at Haliburton et al in money."
Sending more bodies does something else. It keeps us in a state of war, allowing the president to continue to trash the Constitution in the name of national security. The only status he has is as a "war president" and that's been his excuse for every bullheaded, half-cocked, immoral and/or illegal decision he's ever made. Take away his war and he has nothing.
How sad that your wisdom and experience were overwhelmed by people who thought George W. Bush would be a great guy to have a beer with.
There will be no hope for America in the eyes of the world until we (the holder's of Democracy) Impeach. It is the only way to save face.
Who cares what "the eye's of the world" say?
Do they pay your bills ? Hellno. You pay theirs.
"It is the only way to save face." Oh dear. Somebody does not like us. Boooo hoooo.
We can "save face" when we get rid of the lilly livered pansy pants who fret more over not being liked than they do over people fed into shredders. Get a grip blurb.
If fear is the ultimate enemy of freedom, Iraq is the least free society on earth.
Powell was part of this war plan FROM DAY ONE, he had to know that Bush's reasons were bogus, but he didn't have the courage to speak out. In fact, he still lacked the courage to speak out after he was fired. A 'telling' book by Powell would have caused people to sit up and take notice and might have changed the course of the war by at least two years or more.
In my mind, Powell is a coward. Cowards don't make good leaders. This is proven by the other coward who has been leading us (by proxy) for the last six years.
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