Powell: Staying course in Iraq isn't enough

Sharon Schmickle, Star Tribune

The United States and allies can not resolve the current sectarian violence in Iraq, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said today during a lecture in Minneapolis.

"Only the Iraqi people can resolve this," Powell said.

U.S. troops have to stay in Iraq for "some time," he said. "But there is a limit to the patience of the American people."

Powell was the featured speaker at this year's distinguished Carlson Lecture at the University of Minnesota.

In Iraq, "staying the course isn't good enough because a course has to have an end," Powell said.

More than any other event of this era, the war will define the Bush presidency and Powell's own tenure as Secretary of State, Powell said.

In the U.S. today, a challenge the war poses is a question of whether an essential "bond of trust that must exist within a nation...has been shaken," he said. The extent of the damage to trust will be measured in the November elections, he said.

(There's more, here.)