I believe that Calderón declared this war because he felt the need to legitimize himself before Mexico’s people, given the doubts surrounding his victory in the 2006 presidential election – doubts that his supporters, like me, never shared. And I believe that it is unwinnable because it fails to comply with the tenets of the Powell Doctrine, elaborated 18 years ago by Colin Powell, then Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, in relation to the first Gulf War.
我相信卡尔德隆发起这场战争的目的其实是为了提高他自己在墨西哥人民心目中的统治合法性，因为他 2006 年总统大选险胜后遭到了诸多质疑（当然他的支持者们，比如我就永远不会有这样的质疑）。而我之所以认为这场战争不可能获胜的原因，是因为它违反了“鲍威尔法则”，而这条法则是 18 年前时任美国参谋长联席会议主席的柯林斯·鲍威尔根据第一次海湾战争的经验总结出来的。