Violations of the Powell Doctrine in the Iraq war:
The Powell Doctrine:
1. War Goals: Clearly defined and achievable goals, clearly explained to the American people, which involve vital American national interests. All non-military means to achieve the goals have been exhausted.
2. Multilateralism (= broad international and domestic support).
3. Overwhelming force, to win quickly.
4. Exit strategy.
5. All of the above must be in place, before the commitment to war (key words are "all" and "before").
Anybody Remember the Powell Doctrine? counterpunch.org
1. Goals clearly defined: One year and more after the tanks rolled in, and we are all still arguing about why we went to war. WMD? Humanitarian? Terrorism? Oil? Democracy? Revenge? Israel?
Goals achievable: Hard to say, since the stated goals keep shifting. But if the goals include establishing a functioning liberal democracy in Iraq, creating a long-term U.S. ally, to spread American ideals throughout the Muslim world, or assuring our oil supply, then the goals are utopian and grandiose.
Goals clearly explained to the American people: Every day, for a year before the tanks rolled in, the Big Lie was pushed, by some high Bush official. We were told, in highly emotional ways, endlessly, that America was threatened by Iraq. This threat was entirely an illusion.
The Humanitarian, Israel, and Revenge reasons do not involve vital national interests. Non-military means were not exhausted for the others.
2. Multilateralism, broad support. A list of our core longterm allies were not on board: Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, etc. Of all our allies, only England gave non-token support. In sharp contrast to the first war on Saddam, the U.S. is providing almost all the soldiers and dollars. We failed to get UN approval (and then pretended it didn't matter). Public opinion polls showed opposition to the war, everywhere except the US and Israel, even in the nations who sent soldiers. Majority support in the U.S. was broad but shallow, created by the Big Lie, and has now evaporated.
3. Overwhelming force, to win quickly. The force sent, was sufficient to overthrow Saddam, but nowhere near enough to control the ground afterward. Bush and Rumsfeld were told this, before the war, by the professional soldiers. A year after the President prematurely declared victory, and a power vacuum in Iraq is being filled, ad hoc, by Shiite militias, Ex-Baathists, Republican Guard generals, Kurdish armies, etc. Our forces are inadequate, to conquer Fallujah, or arrest Sadr. The U.S. army has retreated to fortified bastions, in order to keep our casualty levels at politically acceptable levels (1-2/day dead).
4. Our Exit strategy used to be: We will leave, after transforming the Middle East, turning Iraq into a liberal democracy, finding all those plywood drones that are about to drop Iraqi-made nukes on Sacramento, and making the world safe for Halliburton and Sharon. Or, we'll stay till after the Apocalypse. Then it became: We will leave after Iraqification. Soon, it will be: We will declare victory and leave a mess behind.
5. Clearly, all of the conditions for the Powell Doctrine, were not in place before the war.
Today, Powell denies the Doctrine is being violated. He even denies there is a Powell Doctrine. iraqwatch.org That's because he is a team player, and has (to his shame) decided that loyalty to the President will be put above loyalty to the troops, and above loyalty to his beliefs. He once vowed never to allow America and America's army, to make the mistakes made in Vietnam, and now he is the PR man for the team that is doing exactly that. |
