The Case For Pre-emptive War

No policy undertaken by the past Bush Administration has caused more angst among the various pundits and public alike than “Preemptive War.” This concept is maligned because it is looked upon as the catalyst that got the United States involved in the unpopular Iraq war, and moreover, because it is a policy championed by the so called Neo-Cons, who are now out of favor in Washington. Notwithstanding the recent advocates of pre-emption, there is merit sometimes in employing such a policy in our Geo-Policies, all in all to serve the greater good. We do not have to have expertise in politics like Bismarck, Richelieu, Churchill, or Kissinger, to understand pre-emption. We practiced pre-emption in our everyday life: We exercise to prevent obesity which could lead to heart problems; we visit our doctors periodically to make sure that we are healthy; we take vitamins to help fight off maladies; and we save our monies for a so called rainy day-all this we engage in to pre-empt something bad in the future.

Countries are like human beings who practice pre-emption, only that they do so for the collective. With that said, there are many countries which are justified to employ the strategy of pre-emptive war. How many times have we heard the vitriol coming out of Iran on how it wants to bring about the utter destruction of Israel-should the Israelis wait until Iran developed Nuclear weapons and nuked before they protect themselves by carrying out a preemptive strike? This morning (05/04/2009), General Petraeus warned the Pakistani government that it has two weeks to confront the Taliban-the fear is that the Taliban are going to soon have access to the fifty or so nuclear weapons because there are sympathizers in the Pakistani army-Again, should we wait until this occurs? What should the Indians do if these weapons end up in the Taliban hands, knowing the bloody history of wars between India and Pakistan over the Cashmere? Tonight, before I go to bed, I will engage in some pre-emption of my own by brushing my teeth; my goal is to prevent bad breath, tooth decay, and Gingivitis-what of countries facing nuclear annihilation.

-Verily Prime