November 21, 2004

THE DITHER DOCTRINE:

A Doctrine Left Behind: The Powell Doctrine sets out a series of questions that
policymakers must ask and answer before going to war. They make sobering reading today. (MARK DANNER, 11/21/04, NY Times)

While the Powell Doctrine is generally thought simply to prescribe the setting of clear objectives and the use of overwhelming force to achieve them, it also sets out a series of questions that policymakers must ask and answer before committing American lives to war. They make sobering reading today:

"Is the political objective we seek to achieve important, clearly defined and understood? Have all other nonviolent policy means failed? Will military force achieve the objective? At what cost? Have the gains and risks been analyzed? How might the situation that we seek to alter, once it is altered by force, develop further and what might be the consequences?"


These questions are symptomatic of that element in the military that was so traumatized by Vietnam that they preferred not to ever fight again if possible--they are meant to be unanswerable in order to impose stasis.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 21, 2004 10:11 AM
Comments

McClellanism for the 21st century.

If it were up to Powell, our forces would still be stuck around Fortress Monroe waiting for that Confederate attack.

Posted by: Bart at November 21, 2004 11:28 AM

How about adding one more question:
"Will other countries be more cooperative with the US after seeing the glass parking lot that used to be the capitol city of the current troublemaker?"

And as a follow-on:
"Do we care what they'll think?"

Posted by: ray at November 21, 2004 11:28 AM

OK, so for Iraq the answers are: Yes. Yes. At least in part. Pretty small. Yes. Who knows?

Certainly the questions should be asked, but none of them are deal breakers. The answers for our intervention in Yugoslavia are all substantially inferior to those for Iraq...

Posted by: brian at November 21, 2004 2:21 PM

The Powell Doctrine needs a large dose of the Patton Doctrine: A good plan violently executed today is superior to a perfect plan executed next week.

Posted by: Tom Wall at November 21, 2004 6:26 PM

Or next year. Reportedly, Powell wanted to put off Iraq until Jan. '05. Meaning "never".

Posted by: Noel at November 21, 2004 8:29 PM
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