Q: Do you believe in Preemptive Strikes ?
Ans: Yes I do when considered necessary, but also respect Congress as the one who actually declares War as in remembering the story of the Feud between the Hatfield's and McCoys.
It is Leadership as President when obtaining Congress's declaration for war as this has the people's backing and therefore the inherent respect for the President as Commander and Chief. It is the Abuse of Power to disenfranchise Congress from this decision when major commitments are ultimately required. The President should appeal to Congress with the War plan and the Exit Strategy, or the cost of lives can become unmeasurable.
In the Cold War we knew the Hatfield/McCoy syndrome as MAD ( Mutually Assured Destruction ) which we are starting to forget these days with the new escalation and related profits of Nuclear Weapons.
In the case of World War II, we in effect did a well founded Pre-emptive Strike on the Nazi's when Japan hit Pearl Harbor in an unprovoked attack.
Our Policy due to the Pearl Harbor attack could have been so conservative as to say, 'Japan is our Enemy at the time and that is where we should put our only military focus'. We could also rationalize that in putting our focus solely on Japan at the time the the Pacific War could have ended earlier.
We also had a Moral issue to deal with, in that this country ( The United States ) is made up of the immigrants from Europe, and that Foreign Policy and World Leadership calls for the United States to join its allies in the war. Additionally the logistical issue I believe would have also been accounted for, in that by the time that we could have won the Pacific, The Nazi's could have overcome all our allies and be in Great Britain as well as all of Europe; where their next appetite of conquest would have been the United States of America.
In the case of 9/11, pursuing the Alqaeda, and the Taliban cannot be considered pre-emptive, and likewise had United Nations Support.
Basically, Pre-emptive does not mean Unilateral where in today's world, Pre-emptive Attack can evolve to Mutually Assured Destruction given the reason for doing so such as in the Story of the Hatfield's and McCoys.
Orion Karl Daley
Presidential Candidate for 2008
for the Strategic
Future of our country
Balanced Party http://unity2008.org
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