Powell: New president must continue Iraq draw-down David Edwards and Nick Juliano

Published: Thursday April 10, 2008



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Print This Email This Colin Powell still hasn't decided who he's going to vote for in this November's presidential elections, but he says it is imperative that whoever resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next year continue to reduce the US troop presence in Iraq. Powell, who was President Bush's secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Bush's father, said the military is unsustainably stretched thin because of its continuing commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Powell spoke Thursday morning on ABC's Good Morning America where he stressed the need to redeploy troops from Iraq and warned against a military incursion into Iran. The next president will inherit a military "that cannot sustain, continue to sustain, 140,000 people deployed in Iraq, and the 20 (to) 25,000 people we have deployed in Afghanistan, and our other deployments," Powell told ABC's Diane Sawyer. "They will have to continue to draw down at some pace." Powell also observed that the expected number of forces in Iraq would remain about 10,000 troops higher than before President Bush announced his surge last year, and he predicted the Bush administration would "maintain a significant presence" until the end of his term. Regarding the on-again, off-again saber rattling toward Iran, Powell said the possibility of a military strike should never be completely ruled out, but he said that option should be far from the front of officials minds. "Frankly, as a soldier, and if I was in the chairmanship once again at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I would find it a very, very difficult target to work against," he said. "So, I don't think the military option is anywhere near the top of the list of things to think about." Powell said he "truly" had not decided which presidential candidate to support in the upcoming elections, saying he was close friends with Republican nominee John McCain as well as both remaining Democratic contenders, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He did have some kind words for Obama, crediting the Illinois senator's ability to deflect controversy over his former pastor's controversial statements. Powell also said Obama's relative lack of experience might not be as significant a problem as some people think, citing his deft first-time presidential campaign as evidence he can quickly learn and adapt to the demands of the presidency. "I've seen other individuals who have come along that didn't have that breadth of experience, and what they do is surround themselves with people who do bring that experience," Powell said. "With Sen. Obama, he didn't have a lot of experience in running a presidential campaign, did he? But he seems to know how to organize the task." This video is from ABC's Good Morning America, broadcast April 10, 2008.



