With the conflict in Ukraine at a stalemate and the prospects of a Ukrainian “victory” dim perhaps it would have been wise for our current Administration to have followed the doctrine elaborated by GEN Colin H Powell before engaging in foreign conflicts. As an infantry officer in Vietnam, Powell saw first-hand the lackluster effects of the Johnson and later Nixon Administrations attempting to fight a protracted proxy war against the Soviet Union through gradual escalation vice an all-out effort to defeat. Our military was burdened with extremely restrictive rules of engagement and our force levels were only gradually increased only to match those in kind of our adversary.
Based on this experience GEN Powell formulated the “Powell Doctrine” which postulated that America should only resort to significant foreign military intervention if political and military leadership could positively answer the following crucial questions:
1. Is the goal clear, vital to national security and is it achievable?
2. Do the American people support military intervention?
3. Is there a plausible and credible exit strategy to avoid perpetual war?
Under the doctrine, if the U.S. could answer yes to these questions, then decisive, or even “overwhelming force” would be utilized against the enemy to end the war as quickly as possible and to minimize casualties.
As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell under President H.W. Bush, had the opportunity to put his own doctrine into action during the first Gulf war or Operation Desert Storm. Under Powell’s command, the nearly 1 million U.S. and coalition forces defeated a capable Soviet trained enemy in less than seventy-two hours.
Contrast this today with the conflict in Ukraine where it appears after two years of incessant conflict and the expenditure of billions of dollars, and it appears there will not be a clearly defined “winner.” In addition, thousands of lives both civilian and military have been lost, and our current Administration has yet to define for the American people a plausible strategy of end state other than “regime change” in the case of Vladmir Putin. Had we followed the sage advice of GEN Powell perhaps we would not find ourselves in the position we are today as we meekly respond to Iran’s proxies and look over our shoulder as the People Republic of China advances in the west.
General Powell we should have listened!
7 comments
told you two years ago… Wasted eighty billion… Or was it a waste. Much of it goes to Beltway contractors. But you cannot keep blowing money you don’t have. It isn’t like the money spent on this war came from some other country… It is totally on US taxpayers. With deficit spending. It’s not going to be repaid. Ukraine does not and will not have any money or men once this thing is concluded.
Told you… I am going to blow my own horn.. while supported it..
Toot Toot!!!
Where is Tommy Tuberville hiding when Republicans need him to apologize?
I was reflecting the other day on what the United State has accomplished militarily over the past 75 years, and it isn’t good. Korea = tie. Vietnam = loss. Persian Gulf = win. Iraq = tie/loss/mess. Afghanistan = loss. Our record is 1-2-2 in major conflicts. That’s bad. It’s bad because we haven’t done–with the one exception noted in the above article–what Gen. Powell said to do. As stated, he got his chance and pulled off our lone once-in-75 years victory. A cynic could argue that we now fight wars to make contractors rich. Maybe so, but the bottom line is that, despite spending a lot of money on the military we don’t have much positive result to show for it. Like Dan Snyder and the Commanders.
Dan like MIC contractors walked away with a lot of money… That’s what matters.
Once again, Virginia Republicans are showing us that they will screw up a one-horse parade.
A mass meeting for the nomination in HD-84
A candidate is complaining after what he believes was political power being leveraged by his opponent to secure the HD-84 Republican nomination for an upcoming special election in Southwest Virginia. The Republican Party of Virginia chairman also expressed displeasure with the process in a long email to a Republican delegate.
The special election is to replace Del. Les Adams in the House of Delegates.
Earlier this week, Adams announced he would resign before the start of his next term and is expecting to be appointed to a judgeship.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has already called for a special election to take place on Jan. 9. The last day for candidates to file to run is Dec. 18.
Two Republicans, Eric Phillips and William Pace, announced their intentions to run on Tuesday. The dogfight immediately began. …
Yep ….you are correct Sir !
Everyone has a plan to conduct a fight until they get punched in the face. Sometimes the ones doing the punching are in your corner. In military terms they call it mission creep as each time the bell rings you have a new mission from your corner. By the twelfth round the only mission is to get out gracefully, which is itself an impossible mission.