Freedom for Syria and Libya

[Ragnarök_62]

(01-22-2017, 08:12 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: <snip>
My feeling is that we have had something of a values change on both sides of the partisan divide.  Iraq War II made it clear that we can do nation building at gunpoint, but the expense in blood, gold and iron is so great that we ought not do it.  There is a reluctance today to commit the boots on the ground required.  Powell's Questions aren't being ignored.

Trump?  Does he really think he knows more than the generals?  He talked as if he was going to use the military more often and to better effect than in the recent past.  Will the lessons learned from Bush 43's wars be forgotten?

We'll see.  I'm not going to chant 'Make love, not war'... or vice versa.  I'm going to ask Powell's Questions.  I'm not going to advocate large numbers of boots on the ground unless there are good answers...

Wiki Wrote:The Powell Doctrine states that a list of questions all have to be answered affirmatively before military action is taken by the United States:

• Is a vital national security interest threatened?
  
• Do we have a clear attainable objective?
  
• Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
  
• Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
  
• Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
  
• Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
  
• Is the action supported by the American people?
  
• Do we have genuine broad international support?
  

I would expand said doctrine to any military action. That includes bombing raids and drone strikes. I take the doctrine to mean what it says. "military action". Drone strikes and bombing raids are "military actions". As for what Trump decides to do, it of course would take a class 1 idiot to not even be aware that past military action which con-travails the Powell Doctrine has lead to nothing but sorrow.