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LIBYA FAILS POWELL DOCTRINE
The Hill.com ^ | March 24,2011 | Dick Morris

Posted on 03/24/2011 10:01:39 AM PDT by Hojczyk

The doctrine has three main precepts: Avoid mission creep, clearly define your goals, and plan an exit strategy before you go in. Obama's Libya intervention flunks on all three counts.

Avoid mission creep? It's too late. The mission has already crept. It was sold to us as a no-fly zone, designed to stop Moammar Gadhafi's air force from pounding rebel positions, evening the odds in the conflict. The decision to attack Libya was made because NATO allies dragged Hillary into action when she toured their capitals last week. And Hillary -- along with Samantha Power and Susan Rice -- goaded Obama into action during a phone call on Tuesday night.

Obama needed Hillary's approval to go to war. He knows that since he was elected as a peace candidate, his own party will find it hard to support his entry into a new war, unless his erstwhile rival, Hillary, backs him up. In this case, it is not Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whose support Obama needs, it is nomination runner-up Hillary he wants by his side.

But, nevertheless, the fuzzy nature of our mission and the lack of an exit strategy make the possibility of an out-of-control engagement very real. And such a commitment, especially if it involves ground troops, will not sit well with Obama's base.

But, having made an investment in Libya, are we really going to be prepared to sit back and watch civilians get slaughtered by Gadhafi, in or out of power? Won't the same rationale that dictated the air offensive lead to ground troops? And won't Obama look insufferably weak if he fails to send them?

Obama has opened the door to disaster by his impetuosity in not asking the Powell Doctrine questions.

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 03/24/2011 10:01:45 AM PDT by Hojczyk
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To: Hojczyk

Obamas Marxist Trio of Femicommies.


2 posted on 03/24/2011 10:05:26 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (TV.)
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To: Hojczyk
And Gen Powell himself will be along any minute to confirm.

Any minute now.

3 posted on 03/24/2011 10:05:36 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: Hojczyk

You want to know the Obama Doctrine? Depose secular Muslim leaders and cross your fingers for radical Muslim fundamentalists to take over.


4 posted on 03/24/2011 10:08:03 AM PDT by fhayek
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To: Hojczyk
Here's how you get mission creep"

Gen. Jack Keane told the PBS NewsHour that a small number of U.S. forces specially trained to call in air strikes should be deployed on Libyan territory to help the rebels fighters repel Gadhafi's forces.

Listen to this guy and you have the beginning of a new Vietnam.

Here's some more mission creep:

An ABC affiliate in North Carolina says more than 2,000 U.S. Marines are on the ground in Libya. WCTI-TV in New Bern reports those Marines, assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) at Camp Lejuene, are "preserving the sanctity of the city [of Ajdubiyah] and the safety of the civilians within it." Capt. Timothy Patrick with the 26th MEU told the station: "In Libya right now they are doing exactly what we need them to do. They are doing what they are told, and right now that's protecting Libyan people against Qadhafi forces."

Any questions?

5 posted on 03/24/2011 10:13:40 AM PDT by Harley (Will Rogers never met Harry Reid.)
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To: Hojczyk

Yes. So do Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.


6 posted on 03/24/2011 10:14:31 AM PDT by Eyes Unclouded ("The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out." -George Carlin)
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To: Hojczyk

the Colin Powell doctrine is Sewage..


7 posted on 03/24/2011 10:19:52 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: hosepipe
What you do.. "IS" what McArthur did to the Japanese..!
1) defeat them.. 2) force democracy on them.. 3) install capitalism...
8 posted on 03/24/2011 10:24:21 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: Harley
"An ABC affiliate in North Carolina says more than 2,000 U.S. Marines are on the ground in Libya"

If true then the White House has crossed the Rubicon.

Congress . .is this true?

9 posted on 03/24/2011 11:44:34 AM PDT by atc23
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