"I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence, this civil war, will work. ... If I were still chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, my first question to whoever is proposing it, what mission is it these troops are to accomplish?"

Powell said the US army is not large enough to secure Baghdad, and should not be used as policeman for the city, and meanwhile questioned whether more troops would make a difference in the pursuit of insurgents.

"There needs to be a clear mission that these additional troops are going to be performing."

Powell, who was secretary of state from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff -- the White House's main military advisory body -- from 1989 to 1993, also said the US military was too strained to sustain a hike in numbers in Iraq.

"Let's be clear about something else ... There are really no additional troops. All we would be doing is keeping some of the troops who were there there longer, and escalating or accelerating the arrival of other troops."

"I'm suggesting that what General Schoomaker (the US army's top general, Peter Schoomaker) said the other day before a committee looking at the (US military) Reserves and National Guard, that the active army is about broken. General Schoomaker is absolutely right," Powell said.

"All of my contacts within the army suggest that the army has a serious problem in the active force, and it's a problem that will spread into the guard and reserves."

Powell, meanwhile, also said the United States should be talking directly with Syria and Iran about Middle East issues.

President George W. Bush has refused to permit direct talks with either country, both of which he has called supporters of terrorism.

Related Links
Face the Nation
Iraq: The first techonology war of the 21st century