Powell Says He Advised Bush to Invade Iraq With a Larger Force [View All]

[sabra]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aGyvxwD2B.FM&refer=top_world_news

Powell Says He Advised Bush to Invade Iraq With a Larger Force

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he urged President George W. Bush to deploy a greater numbers of troops for the 2003 invasion of Iraq than advocated by the Pentagon.

``I made the case to General (Tommy) Franks and Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld before the President that I wasn't sure we had enough troops,'' Powell said in an interview with Britain's ITV television network broadcast today. ``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 that generals and other Department of Defense advisers were ``anticipating a different kind of aftermath'' to the Iraq war.

...

Condoleezza Rice, Powell's successor as secretary of state, today defended the decision on Iraq troops levels, saying on ABC's ``This Week'' program in Washington that they were determined by the military commanders most closely involved in the planning.