If Powell based it on his VN time, we can only assume that it involves a good deal of denial and "I never heard of that operation."

One basic problem with the P-W construct is that it was designed to AVOID any sort of COIN situation. It was geared more toward Desert Storm and similar conventional engagements. There are aspects of it that would be worth adopting or modifying, but on the whole it's more of a "no more Vietnams" catchphrase than any real strategy. IMO, anyhow.