Powell Says Use 'Decisive Force' For a Total Attack on Oil Spill

May 31, 2010 (LPAC)—Gen. Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today that the federal government has to move quickly in a crisis like the Gulf oil spill, and that it must move in with "decisive force." Powell said he had dealt with many such crises, and the lesson is that the President and the federal government have to get involved as quickly as is possible.

"The military brings organization, it brings control, it brings assets," Powell said, while deferring to his active-duty colleagues in the Pentagon to decide what exactly is the right combination of assets that is needed right now.

"But whether it's Army, Coast Guard, local forces," Powell continued, "it is time for a comprehensive, total attack on this problem, to protect the shoreline, to protect the livestock, to protect the wetlands, but most of all to give the people in that part of our country a sense of hope that this is going to be solved."

Powell followed Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on the ABC program; Jindall said that the federal government "shouldn't be making excuses for BP," but should be deploying many more assets to the area, and making BP pay for it.