Powell: Gorbachev Wrong on Reagan Buildup

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was wrong on Friday when he told the Washington Post that the U.S. military buildup under Ronald Reagan didn't cause his nation's collapse.

While acknowledging that both Gorbachev and Reagan were "historic figures" who "worked hard to bring the Cold War to an end," Powell told "Fox News Sunday" that Gorbachev was trying to "reform Communism to make it work" - not end the failed system.

"It couldn't happen. It wouldn't happen," he explained. "Instead the Soviet Union collapsed and he was pushed out of power. ... Communism couldn't succeed. Gorbachev thought it could."

During an interview with the Post on Friday, the former Soviet premier argued:

"All that talk that somehow Reagan's arms race forced [me] to look for some arms reductions, etc., that's not serious. The Soviet Union could have withstood any arms race. The Soviet Union could have actually decided not to build more weapons, because the weapons we had were more than enough."

But Powell said that Gorbachev's claims were bunk.

"The Soviet Union could not have withstood any arms race," he told Fox. "The Soviet Union had bankrupted itself with the creation of a huge military force that had no utility with respect to the welfare and well-being of the Soviet people."

Under the Reagan buildup, Powell said, "The United States was also strong. ... And we also could afford to take care of our people. The Russians couldn't."

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