There Is A Case Sometimes 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, part of President Bush’s cabal who are now out of favor in Washington.

Notwithstanding the advocates of pre-emption, there is merit sometimes in employing such a policy in our Geo-Policies, all in all to serve the greater and long time good. We all need not do have walked the hollowed halls of Ivy League academia to have expertise in geo-politics like Bismarck, Richelieu, Churchill, or Kissinger, to understand pre-emption. In our everyday lives, we practice pre-emption: we exercise to prevent obesity, which could lead to Heart problems and other ailments; 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 do to pre-empt something bad happening in our 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 are nuked… before they protect themselves by carrying out a preemptive strike? During the morning of May 04 2009, General David Petraeus, thinking of the merits pre-emption, warned the Pakistani government that it has two weeks to confront the Taliban; the fear then was that the Taliban was going to soon have access to the fifty or so nuclear weapons because there were Taliban sympathizers in the Pakistani army - Again, should we have waited until this occurred?

What should India do if these weapons end up in the hands of the Taliban, knowing the bloody history of wars between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir? Tonight, before I go to bed, I too 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 with enemies who think their rewards are in Paradise… rooted in  perverse eschatological ideals?