Tony Lee: The Emergence of a Sarah Palin Foreign Policy Doctrine?

"We don’t go looking for dragons to slay"
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Human Events columnist Tony Lee observes that the first elements of what could become a Palin foreign policy doctrine emerged Tuesday in the principles she outlined in her Colorado speech:

Palin said that “we should only commit our forces when clear and vital American interests are at stake. Period.”

Then, Palin said that if America commits troops and “if we have to fight, we fight to win. To do that, we use overwhelming force. We only send our troops into war with the objective to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible. We do not stretch out our military with open-ended and ill-defined missions. Nation building is a nice idea in theory, but it is not the main purpose of our armed forces. We use our military to win wars.”

Echoing the famous Powell Doctrine, Palin then said that “we must have clearly defined goals and objectives before sending troops into harm’s way. If you can’t explain the mission to the American people clearly and concisely, then our sons and daughters should not be sent into battle.”

Palin then said that “American soldiers must never be put under foreign command. We will fight side by side with our allies, but American soldiers must remain under the care and the command of American officers.”

Palin also said America should never be in a rush to send in troops...”

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Related: Daniel Horowitz, The Palin Foreign Policy Doctrine

- JP