http://www.spacewar.com/2006/060430175824.lfxj3bzl.html

Powell was concerned about US troop numbers for Iraq

LONDON, April 30 (AFP) Apr 30, 2006
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell said Sunday he had expressed concerns to President George W. Bush that they were not sending a large enough military force to Iraq before the US-led invasion in early 2003.
"I made the case to General (Tommy) Franks and (Defence) Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld before the president that I was not sure we had enough troops," Powell told Britain's ITV1 television.

"The case was made, it was listened to, it was considered ... a judgement was made by those responsible that the troop strength was adequate."

Powell, a former US Army general and Vietnam veteran, said he did not agree with the assessment by Bush's military advisers that they were sending enough troops in March 2003 to topple former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

"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," he said.

"In my perspective I would have preferred more troops, but you know this conflict is not over."

In an apparent sideswipe at those advisers, he said: "At the time the president was listening to those who were supposed to be providing him with military advice.

"They were anticipating a different kind of immediate aftermath of the fall of Baghdad; it turned out to be not exactly as they had anticipated."

Asked about Powell's concerns about the US troop size, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told CNN television on Sunday:"I don't remember specifically what secretary Powell may be referring to, but I'm quite certain that there were lots of discussions about how best to fulfill the mission."

Rice -- Powell's successor at the State Department -- said military advisors told president Bush before the invasion of Iraq that they had enough troops for the operation.

Asked in hindsight if more troops should have been deployed following the fall of Baghdad, Rice replied:"I've said many times ... we will go back at some point in time, and I'm sure others will, too. Examine what we might have done differently, that might have been better. But that's the way big operations are."

Rice, however, said the "footprint" of a bigger US force might also have created its own problems.





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