[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 72 (Thursday, May 3, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H4420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            POWELL DOCTRINE

  (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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