Powell says: U.S. Misjudged Insurgents in Iraq

• 975 Dead in Iraq

 Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged Thursday that the Bush administration miscalculated the strength of insurgents in Iraq  but said the United States would "not become faint of heart" in enforcing its Iraq policy.   "What we have to do is to defeat this insurgency," Powell said in an interview Wednesday in Panama to Panama's TVN Channel 2. A text was released Thursday by the State Department. "Let's remember what is causing this trouble. It's not the United States. It's not the coalition forces that are there." He conceded that "it is clear we did not expect an insurgency that would be this strong." The Pentagon announced this week that the death toll for U.S. military personnel in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was 975 and the number of wounded was approaching 7,000. Casualties and deaths have mounted rapidly since mid-April as the insurgency has intensified, and the Bush administration's postwar strategy is a major issue in the presidential campaign. Powell, who is expected to step down even if Bush is re-elected, has kept his distance from the Republican Convention. [more ]