Powell Addresses When Force Will Be Used

Jan 17 -- Will President George W. Bush use U.S. troops only when it's determined to be in America's vital national interest?

If American peacekeepers are the only option for saving tens of thousands of lives in an unstable distant land, as they appeared during the 1992 famine in Somalia, will they be withheld?

Though Bush's Secretary of State-designee Colin Powell's critics suggest he might be too reluctant to advocate the use of American military muscle, he has signaled recently that he may be more flexible than they think.

Lessons From Vietnam

The so-called "Powell Doctrine," most famously applied when Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War, advocates using American forces according to three criteria:

-- A vital national interest is at stake.-- A clear strategy and objectives have been set.-- Massive, overwhelming power is used, as it was in Panama and the Gulf War.

Taking his lessons from Vietnam, the retired general has written that he would not have U.S. soldiers engaged again in "half-hearted warfare for half-baked reasons."

In his presidential campaign, Bush seemed to echo the doctrine, vowing to pull U.S. peacekeepers out of the Balkans and stressing his view that the U.S. government should "focus our military on fighting and winning wars."

Critics argue the Powell Doctrine is not suitable for dealing with the variety of troubles plaguing the world today, from ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, to Iraqi oil smuggling in the Persian Gulf, to humanitarian missions that require capabilities only the U.S. military can provide, as in Somalia. By limiting intervention only to America's immediate interests, they say, the world's strongest superpower could shirk its responsibility to promote peace, democracy and human rights throughout the world.

Powell's foreign policy approach is "out-of-date," New Republic senior editor Lawrence Kaplan wrote this month. It "sounds reasonable enough," Kaplan writes. "Just not for the world the Bushies are about to inherit."

So, too, said outgoing Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, responding during a recent interview to Powell's criticism of her approach to using force.