Why I Can't Stand Colin Powell---Reason # 12,672

Gulf War bungling:

The most important revelation of the book was that General Colin Powell, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended an end to hostilities based not on military considerations, but on political ones, thereby failing to fulfill his statutory obligation to provide military advice to President George H. W. Bush — a failure that would loom large for the next decade and set the stage for the 2003 war. In making his recommendation, Powell did not bother to inform either the president or the secretary of Defense that the central military mission — destruction of the Republican Guard — had not yet been accomplished.

Gordon and Trainor revealed that, before recommending that the president end hostilities, Powell never consulted the field commanders — who would have told him that the Republican Guard had not been destroyed — instead presenting them with a fait accompli. In view of the deterioration of the U.S. position in the Gulf after the war, Powell's failure to render his best military advice ranks as a failure of major proportions.

If people like Bill Kristol truly believe having the most political general in U.S. history become SecDef or C-in-C would help America, they simply haven't been paying attention.