Powell Reportedly Says Iraq in Civil War

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has said a number of things in recent months that are critical of the Bush Administration, but a word of caution: most of these criticisms have been out of the public eye and simply reported by others. Think Progress catches the latest criticism from Powell by way of Hala Garani of CNN:

GORANI: Well, within the context of the leaders conference in Dubai and also within the context of this debate, this semantics debate, over whether to call what is going on on in Iraq a civil war, the former Secretary of State Colin Powell says he thinks we can call it a civil war and added if he were still heading the State Department, he probably would recommend to the Bush administration that those terms should be used in order to come to terms with the reality on the ground.

The Bush Administration is in meltdown and considerable damage has been done to our foreign policy. We need to hear not just Democrats but also rational Republicans who can clarify what is going on. If everyone knows what the real story is, it limits the unhelpful and time-wasting games that Bush is still capable of playing and that are likely to damage the United States even further. I hope Colin Powell starts making his statements in the public eye where we can all hear it loud and clear rather than at these semi-private functions. He knows his reputation has been damaged by his service under Bush; to repair that reputation requires raising his profile.