Former US secretary of state Colin Powell said Sunday he had expressed concerns to President George W. Bush that they were not sending a large enough military force to Iraq before the US-led invasion in early 2003. “I made the case to General (Tommy) Franks and (Defence) Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld before the president that I was not sure we had enough troops,” Powell told Britain’s ITV1 television. “The case was made, it was listened to, it was considered … a judgment was made by those responsible that the troop strength was adequate.” Powell, a former US Army general and Vietnam veteran, said he did not agree with the assessment by Bush’s military advisers that they were sending enough troops in March 2003 to topple former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. “The President’s military advisers felt that the size of the force was adequate; they may still feel that years later. Some of us don’t, I don’t,” he said. “In my perspective I would have preferred more troops, but you know this conflict is not over.” In an apparent sideswipe at those advisers, he said: “At the time the president was listening to those who were supposed to be providing him with military advice. “They were anticipating a different kind of immediate aftermath of the fall of Baghdad; it turned out to be not exactly as they had anticipated.”