"I tried to avoid this war," Powell told the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, reports Sarah Baxter in the Sunday Times. Powell said he walked Bush through the risks of becoming an occupying force in an Arab country.
The sectarian violence in Iraq has escalated to the point of civil war, said Powell, and one that US forces cannot resolve.
Baxter points to plans being drawn up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to begin a slow troop reduction to pre-"surge" levels as signs that "the views of Powell and other critics of the war are finally being heard in the Pentagon, if not yet in the White House."
Powell also asserts that any reduction in US troops must be accompanied by diplomatic measures with Syria and Iran, writes Baxter.
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