[Dr. Eckleburg]

...there will be a military presence for a long time.

Good. To the victor go the spoils.

American soldiers in Baghdad is a cataclysmic turning point in history, regardless of the political necessity to play down the invasion and liberation of Iraq.

[ScaniaBoy]

To each his own...

LA Times certainly managed to find an "appropriate" headline - and managed to make light of Powell's comments on the pre-war intelligence.

Good to know that there is still one constant in the world, MSM's leftist bias.
/sarcasm

:(

[Hound of the Baskervilles]

"But essentially just to walk away, to say that we're taking all of our troops out as fast as we can, would be a tragic mistake. It's going to be years."

Fine. Whatever it takes. WHATEVER it takes.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

says there will be a military presence for a long time

Well.....DUH!

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Ex-secretary of State predicts a gradual reduction in troops to start in 2006, but says there will be a military presence for a long time.

Nobody seriously expected Iraq to be a frat-house panty-raid, surely? Over-and-done in one nite? Germany wasn't. Korea wasn't...

[Berlin_Freeper]

Powell is a quitter who left the stage.

Rumsfeld is a fighter and he made clear what the conditions for staying in Iraq are just last week. We will be there for as long as it takes and as long as we are invited.

We were in Saudi Arabia for years until they said they wanted us to leave and then we left. Bush already has a proven track record on this.

Powell is taking money from the left and they want "years" hysterics about Iraq to try to make it seem like we will never have complete victory, that is just BS.

[Jemian]

there will be a military presence for a long time...

How long have we been in Germany, Japan, Kosovo? Regarding troop pull-out, lets leave in order of entry. First in, first out.

[msnimje]

Please name all countries with which the US is friendly in which we do not have a military presence.

[R. Scott]

We’ve been in Germany and Japan for years too.

[freeangel]

Hey, Colin--longer than Korea?

[hershey]

Powell has a lot to say, most of it self serving. On a side note...forgive me, but I caught Mark Steyn on C-Span late last night...a speech before the Cleremont Society. (I think). If they replay it again and you have a chance to see it, he's terrific. Late in the speech, and it was all too short, he shuffled half a dozen pages aside, kept talking, and I wondered what we missed because time ran short.

[hershey]

Why doesn't Powell simply say he supports what we've achieved in Iraq, that democracy for the Middle East is a noble cause. To think otherwise is racist, and you'd think Powell of all people, would understand this.

[Caipirabob]

FReepers have been stating this since the invasion. After all, we still have troops in Germany, and this war is at least as important.

[gotribe]

We've been in Cuba for what, over a hundred years? Nothing wrong with a military presence.

[bert]

There will be a major air base in Iraq forever.

[Dilbert56]

Powell wasn't really cut out to be SecState; ee hated traveling for one thing. He was, however, the "moderate" face of the Administration.

He has every right to be bitter. He and George Tenet worked hard and long, scrubbing his presentation to make sure it was accurate. There were doubts about Curveball and the aluminum tubes and those doubts were squashed. His presentation to the U.N. changed a lot of minds on Iraq. How would you like to put your credibility and that of your country on the line only to have it undercut?

He spent six weeks working on OIF diplomacy, finally getting agreement from the French just seconds before he walked his daughter down the aisle. How would you like to give so much of you private life up, pursuing the noblest of goals, only to have the perfidious French betray us and make a mockery of the whole enterprise?

Colin Powell should be saluted for his service, even if we disagree with some of his leanings. Right now, the Freepers' composite view of Powell's service is that the food sucked and the portions were too small (calling him a quitter).

[Jackknife]

In other news, America still has troops in Germany, Korea, and Japan.