Powell: We are losing the war in Iraq

Even Secretary of State Colin Powell, a former general who stays in touch with the Joint Chiefs, has acknowledged this privately to friends in recent weeks, NEWSWEEK has learned. The insurgents have effectively created a reign of terror throughout the country, killing thousands, driving Iraqi elites and technocrats into exile and scaring foreigners out. ?Things are getting really bad,? a senior Iraqi official in interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi?s government told NEWSWEEK last week. ?The initiative is in [the insurgents?] hands right now. This approach of being lenient and accommodating has really backfired. They see this as weakness.? Newsweek (via BlueLemur)

I take it Powell would not be interested in serving in another Bush administration should the possibility arise? Actually, I doubt Bush would ven pick him again. I mean come on, what’s this whole Powell doctrine thing about? The guy is obviously clueless. (By the way, this is sarcasm. Powell is the only person left in the Bush administration whose judgment I could respect.)