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.