It is said that I used the “pottery barn rule”. I never did; [Thomas] Friedman did. But what I said. Once you break it, you will own it and we will be responsible for 26 million people watching us. And it will absorb 40 to 50 percent of the military for years. And this will drain all the oxygen from the political environment. [7] New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman claims to have coined the term after using the phrase “the pottery shop rule” in a February 12, 2003 column. He said he had specifically referred to Pottery Barn in his speeches. [4] According to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, US Secretary of State Colin Powell cited the rule in the summer of 2002 when he warned President George W. Bush of the consequences of his planned military action in Iraq: Powell: You are responsible for the pottery barn rule. I did not say it, you said it.

Mangu-Ward argues that the Pottery Barn Rule would create a “virtuous circle” and “serve as a useful reminder that we`d better not start a fight unless we are sure people are better off or when we are ready to welcome thousands, if not millions, of additional immigrants to our shores.” In particular, she argues that this—tying military intervention to a more liberal immigration policy—would deter the pursuit of unnecessary wars by foreign policy hawks who are also immigration hawks (a pair that characterizes them as primarily within the GOP, though this characterization may no longer be accurate on the issue of war). Powell`s rule about the pottery barn – “You break it, you own it” – is one of the iconic rhetorical flourishes of the Iraq war, representing ignored warnings and unintended consequences. It turns out that Pottery Barn`s rule is neither Powell`s nor Pottery Barn`s, as the following exchange with interviewer Walter Isaacson made clear: In essence, military adventurism could actually become a long-term political strategy for some policymakers if the United States adopted the Pottery Barn rule, and it could also simply serve to accelerate the reversal of positions on war between established political parties. This broad immunity under the Westfall Act was recently granted by the Ninth District Court of Appeals in Saleh v. Bush (2017, 9 cir.). Saleh v. Bush participated in a class action lawsuit against Bush administration officials filed on behalf of Iraqi civilians for damages resulting from the Iraq war. In that case, the court ruled that Bush administration officials could not be prosecuted in their personal capacity because the Westfall Act granted them absolute immunity from prosecution, and that “this immunity even covered heinous acts.” Despite Colin Powell`s warning to George W. Bush in 2002 about the Pottery Barn rule regarding Iraq, no member of the Bush administration had to “possess” it, although they undoubtedly “broke” it. Of course, magazines would need an incentive to adopt the pottery barn rule. Competition from outlets such as PLoS One (which does not include importance/novelty in its evaluation criteria) or Psych File Drawer (which only publishes replicas) could push mainstream magazines in this direction. But at the end of the day, it`s up to us scientists to decide.

If we cite replication studies, if we demand and use media that publish them, and if we speak loudly enough – individually or through our professional organizations – I think publishers will listen. Hence a Pottery Barn rule for journals: once you publish a study, you have its reproducibility (or at least a significant part of it). “You will be the proud owner of 25 million people,” he told the president. “You will have all their hopes, aspirations and problems. You will own everything. Privately, Powell and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage have called this the rule of the pottery barn: you break it, you own it. [5] Powell denies using the term “ceramic stability rule,” but explained: Fast forward 25 years to another term that implies a metaphorical break. Secretary of State Colin Powell was quoted in “Plan of Attack,” a book in which he was a key source when he warned President Bush before the war that he would “possess” Iraq with all its problems after a military victory. “Privately,” wrote Bob Woodward, “Powell and [Richard] Armitage called it the rule of the pottery barn: you break it, you own it. The Pottery Barn Rule is an American term that refers to a policy of “you break it, you bought it” or “you break it, you buy it” or “you break it, you make it new”, with which a retail store makes a customer liable for damage to the goods on display. This encourages customers in general to be more cautious when dealing with goods that do not belong to them.

It is an analogy often used in the political or military arena to suggest that if an actor accidentally creates a problem, he has an obligation to allocate the necessary resources to solve it. [1] A more appropriate reference, especially after Trump`s inauguration, might be the pottery barn rule.