Warriors in Peace Operations - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

Colin Powell’s philosophy—we went in with enough force to
remove doubt of our intentions or abilities. Then, as we
reevaluated the situation, we reduced forces according to
the reduced need.
Whether the American people will continue to support
this involvement remains to be seen. As long as casualties
are restricted to accidents, their tolerance will probably
continue despite the relatively high expense. Such tolerance
may not be all good, for it may signal their lack of interest as
well. It may also reflect the absence of CNN coverage of a
spectacularly bloody nature. In short, American public
support is likely to remain problematic. Nobody can
question that muscular peacemaking in this region was
undertaken only when all other options had been
exhausted, short of allowing genocide. The “Last Resort”
criterion of the Weinberger Doctrine was fully satisfied.
When the final chapter of this operation is written, I
trust that the personal accounts of those involved, such as
these here recorded, will be acknowledged with appropriate
pride and gratitude.
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