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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (159447)	3/22/2005 8:33:07 PM
From: Orcastraiter	Respond to of 281500

Which is exactly my point. Just having boots on the ground doesn't do anything if they're on a base somewhere. They might as well be stateside. My point being that overwhelming force was not used in Vietnam. They may have had resources at hand, but they were not used...which is key. Of course the other elements of the Powell Doctrine go hand in hand: 1. Clear plan or objective. 2. Broad Coalition of forces. 3. Overwhelming force. ( I'll define this as an adequate number of troops times 2 or 3 depending on longevity and difficulty of the task) 4. Clearly defined exit strategy. Additionally military action should be used only as a last resort and only if there is a clear risk to national security by the intended target. Didn't have any of these in Vietnam or in Iraq. However it was used brilliantly in the first Gulf War with a total of 150 US casualties versus 150,000 casualties for the Iraqi Army. Orca