ASPEN, Colo.—Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, long a defender of President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, on Thursday said the administration should be in talks with Syria and Iran as part of an overall strategy to reduce troop levels.
Even with 100,000 additional troops, Powell said it would be tough for the U.S. to continue its present mission in Iraq. Bush’s recent troop surge sent an about 30,000 additional soldiers to Iraq.
Powell’s comments at the Aspen Ideas Festival followed a panel discussion with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane, and former Indiana congressman Lee Hamilton, co-chair of the Iraq Study Group. Powell’s comments were to appear in Friday’s edition of The Aspen Times.
The U.S. cannot “blow a whistle one morning and (have) all 180,000 American forces just leave,” Powell said according , advocating a smaller U.S. force in Iraq, strategic redeployment of troops in the region and intense diplomatic efforts.
“I think we should be talking to Syria and Iran,” Powell said. “You have to talk to people you dislike most in this dangerous world.”
Powell’s benchmarks for U.S. troop reduction: An ineffective Iraq government unable to oversee the country and unabated violence between majority Shiite and minority Sunni Muslims.
“You can’t sit there forever on the lid of this sectarian stew,” Powell said.
Powell, who appeared before the UN shortly before the start of the March 2003 war to present the U.S. case for invasion, said he supported sending troops as the only sure way to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Powell said Saddam had the ability and intent to develop and use weapons of mass destruction.
“It was the lack of planning for these later phases and the things that got out of control that got us to this point,” he said.
Powell predicted that a lack of support for the war and political pressure will force Bush to “face the situation on the ground” and alter his policy by the end of 2007.
Politics aside, the volunteer army cannot maintain the existing presence in Iraq, according to Powell, a retired four-star general who also served as chief of the joint chiefs of staff.
