Powell Doctrine

Floor Speech

POWELL DOCTRINE -- (House of Representatives - May 03, 2007)

(Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, in the wake of the Vietnam War, retired General Colin Powell outlined the Powell Doctrine, which stated simply that any future military action should include ``massive force and a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement.''

As we now know, from the very start of military operations in March 2003, President Bush fought the war in Iraq with an inadequate number of troops and never had an exit strategy, but simply believed the ideologues in the White House that Iraq would blossom into a self-governing democracy. On every score, his policy ignored the Powell Doctrine.

The President's veto on Tuesday of this week failed the test of the Powell Doctrine again. He rejected the plausible exit strategy outlined in the Iraq supplement, namely, a responsible redeployment of our troops out of Iraq's civil war 15 months from now, and instead reembraced his own policy of endless entanglement.

The people of this country deserve more than the political spin contained in the President's televised veto. We need to see his own plausible exit strategy, and, frankly, we need to see it from those who voted to sustain his veto, as General Powell put it. But, even more important, our soldiers and their families who are bearing the brunt of this war deserve a President who heeds the lessons of past military mistakes, not one who keeps repeating them.

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