Powell reveals how troop levels for Iraq were determined

AP/Fox News:

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell advised President Bush before the Iraq war to send more troops to the country, but the administration did not follow his recommendation, Powell said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

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Powell said he gave the advice to now retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who developed and executed the Iraq invasion plan, and Rumsfeld while the president was present.

"I made the case to Gen. Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld before the president that I was not sure we had enough troops," Powell said in an interview on Britain's ITV television, according to a transcript released by the network. "The case was made, it was listened to, it was considered. ... A judgment was made by those responsible that the troop strength was adequate."

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

"At the time the president was listening to those who were supposed to be providing him with military advice," Powell said. "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."

Rumsfeld has rejected criticism that he had sent too few U.S. troops to Iraq, saying that Franks and two other generals who oversaw the campaign's planning — John Abizaid and George Casey — had determined the overall number of troops, and that he and Bush agreed with them.

Why can't the critics be as honest as Powell and acknowledge that the President and the Secretary of Defense followed the adivce of the military leaders who were responsible for combat operations in Iraq? In hind sight, I tend to agree that we needed a larger force in the Phase IV part of the operation, but I don't blame Rumsfeld or the President for that. The generals who have been complaining need to take another look at the chain of command, and quit criticizing the Secretary of Defense for following the adivce of the military commanders rather than the advice of those who were not in the chain of command.