Former Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell endorsed President Barack Obama for a second term Thursday, telling “CBS This Morning” that he voted for Obama in 2008 but this time was going further and publicly backing him. One of the reasons Mr. Powell endorsed President Obama is because he has concerns with a Romney foreign policy. "I'm not quite sure which Governor Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy," Powell stated. “One day he has a certain strong view about staying in Afghanistan but then on Monday night he agrees with the withdrawal — same thing in Iraq.”
Former Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell has concerns with a Romney foreign policy?
I guess he likes the way Obama conducts his foreign policy. People don't remember that Colin Powell shared some responsibility for the deaths of Americans in Mogadishu during Clinton's term. A Senate report into a disastrous 1993 Army raid in Somalia portrays Gen. Colin Powell bending to pressure to keep U.S. involvement to a minimum when field commanders sought greater firepower. The report quotes Gen. Wayne Downing, head of the United States Special Forces, as saying "we were under incredible pressure" from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "I advised that I would like to have the AC-130s," he said. "Gen. Powell advised that we needed to keep the numbers down." Powell was rightly criticized for refusing to send AC-130 gunships along with Task Force Ranger, a force of 460 Army troops to reinforce the troops that were trying to capture the Somali warlord.
In the end, 18 America soldiers were killed and many more injured. I guess Colin Powell had a case of amnesia, because he later said he didn't recall that his officers on the ground requested the reinforcements...even though he was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Judging by Powell's past decisions, I can see why he would prefer Obama's weak foreign policy over one of strength.
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