Powell: 'We Are Losing' in Iraq

Dec. 17, 2006 — -- President Bush's former secretary of state says America is losing in Iraq, and voiced skepticism about a possible "surge" of additional U.S. troops.

"It's grave and deteriorating," Colin Powell said of the situation in Iraq on CBS News' "Face the Nation." "And as Secretary-designate of Defense Bob Gates said at his confirmation hearing, we're not winning. So if it's grave and deteriorating and we're not winning, we are losing.

"We haven't lost," Powell added. "And this is the time, now, to start to put in place the kinds of strategies that will turn this situation around."

But with no end in sight to the sectarian violence that has turned parts of Iraq into war zones, the question remains: What steps, if any, should the United States take next?

The recently released report by the Iraq Study Group recommended the withdrawl of U.S. combat forces by 2008. President Bush is considering those recommendations, as well as options that would send additional U.S. troops to Iraq on a temporary basis -- perhaps as long as two years.

There are now more than 130,000 troops in Iraq, and at least one retired Army official, retired Gen. Jack Keane, an ABC News consultant, is recommending that the president send an additional 30,000 to 40,000 troops that would be there for at least a year and a half.

Some top Democrats agree that the crisis in Iraq needs to be handled politically by its own government. But they don't all see eye to eye on whether more U.S. troops should be deployed to Iraq while waiting for that to happen.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told "Fox News Sunday" that several active duty generals testified that "adding additional troops would enhance and increase what they call the footprint, and enhance the kinds of antagonisms against the United States forces."

But incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told ABC News' "This Week" he might be willing to support a troop surge with strict conditions.

"If it's for a surge -- that is, for two or three months -- and it's part of a program to get us out of there, as indicated, by this time next year, then sure, I'll go along with it," Reid said.