Rice Answers Powell’s Criticism

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the Bush administration’s Iraq war planning Sunday after her predecessor, Colin L. Powell, said he had made a case to send more troops to deal with the war’s aftermath.

Rice said she did not “remember specifically” what instance Powell was referring to when he said he recommended to President Bush that more troops be sent.

In an interview with a British television station Sunday, Powell said there had been debates about the size of the force and how to deal with the postwar period.

“I don’t think we had enough force there to impose order,” Powell said on ITV’s “Jonathan Dimbleby” program.

“The aftermath turned out to be much more difficult than anyone had anticipated,” said Powell, adding that he had favored a larger military presence to deal with the unforeseen.

“I made the case to Gen. [Tommy] Franks, to [Defense] Secretary [Donald H.] Rumsfeld and to the president that I was not sure we had enough troops,” Powell said. But he said military leaders thought they had the appropriate number.

Powell’s comments came amid concern about the rising death toll in Iraq, a factor in driving Bush’s approval ratings to the lowest of his presidency.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, the U.S. military death toll in Iraq has risen to nearly 2,400. Iraqi military deaths are estimated as high as 6,370, and Iraqi civilian deaths in the tens of thousands.

Rice responded to Powell’s comments when she appeared on several Sunday talk shows.

Asked on CNN’s “Late Edition” if she remembered Powell’s dissent, Rice said, “I don’t remember specifically what Secretary Powell may be referring to, but I’m quite certain that there were lots of discussions about how best to fulfill the mission when we went into Iraq.”

She said Bush relied on his military advisors, and that he “asked time and time again” whether everything needed to execute the plan was available, “and he was told yes.”

On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” she said: “I’m quite certain that there are things that, in retrospect, we would do differently. But that’s the nature of any big, complicated operation.”

After the invasion, Rumsfeld said U.S. military commanders believed there were sufficient troops to contain insurgents and to establish peace. Troop levels, however, were later increased.