Bovine Excrement
From an Associate Press article on NBC about a Stephen Hadley speech:
“The president believes that we must remember the clearest lesson of Sept. 11: that the United States of America must confront threats before they fully materialize,” national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.
“The president’s strategy affirms that the doctrine of preemption remains sound and must remain an integral part of our national security strategy,” Hadley said. “If necessary, the strategy states, under longstanding principles of self defense, we do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy’s attack.”
While self-defense is a longstanding principle, preemption is roundly condemned by treaties and conventions to which the United States is a signatory.
Hurricane Katrina vividly showed that this administration would rather stay on vacation than confront obvious and growing threats to the people of the United States.
The Iraq invasion was a preemptive strike based on selective intelligence that ignored the reality that Saddam Hussein was telling the truth and had destroyed his weapons of mass destruction. Thousands are dead and the United States is still trapped in a quagmire with no exit strategy. “We will stand down when the Iraqis stand up” isn’t a strategy, it is a sound bite and a prayer.
