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Under international opinon a first strike war is unlawful, espeically if troop occupation is involved. A first strike war is simular to what Hitler did even if it just about getting rid of a countries leadership and then returning the country to the people with a new leader.
(I am presenting both sides of the coin in my repley).
The reasoning President Bush used concerning the war on Iraq was related to the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center by Bin Laden who was being protected by the government in Afganistan at the time. The thing was that we knew about Bin Ladens motivations before 9-11, he had already declaired a holy war on America and had been linked to other terrorists activities, but Bill Clinton did not wipe him out but allowed him to remain a potential threat, and when Bush took office he did nothing to prevent him from following through with his threatening remarks because we did not want to conduct a first stike on Afganistan which gave him a safe place to operate out of. And so the thinking was "not again" because the world had changed. Meanwhile Saddam was saying bad things about America and even had issued a "contract" for the life of Bush Sr. And the U.N. was concerned at that time that he might be secretly building some WMDs but inspections failed to find such. And so Bush Jr reasoned to congress by asking if we are going to wait around for too long like we did with Bin Laden. Or should we strike first.
The fear was present for most of the Americans because 9-11 was still fresh in their minds and a nuclear attack would be far worse then flying airplanes into an occupied building. The idea that we have anti-American leaders who are radical in other countries was (then) a big concern. And so the first strike idea became more popular and seemed to be more justified. We cannot predict for sure what radical leaders might do in those nations that hate Americans, And so the burning question of the times had to be answered.
(A) - Should we never attack anyone who does not attack us first in order to remain above board as a non-agressive nation.
(B) - Should we imagine New York city being blown to kingdom come by a nuclear bomb and take agressive action to eliminate any potential source of such an thing happening... ever.
Is prevention better then reacton after it is too late to save New York City?
President Bush answered that burning question for us, "If you are not with us in the war on terrorism then you are our enemy" as it was viewed that terrorims was a world-wide network.
He then gave notice of the three countries that he thought represented the greatest threats to the USA simular to the threats dictated by Bin Laden.
And even if they did not have WMDs they could still have been a threat because of their anti-American comments and because Bin Laden did not have any WMDs ether. (thank goodness for that).
The problem is that tiny religious cults can put the fear of God into the minds of those who rule a particular country, like they have now done in Pakistan. And as they had done in Afganistan, and as they are now doing in Iraq. It is becoming less effective to make peace agreements with a country that is occupied by such terrorist religions. Especially when bombing has become the popular way for religious cults to conduct their protests.
And although I have been a Bush basher here for a long time I am for the sake of debate pretending to be his lawyer. Making a case for him as he would relate it here if he was a debater.
However his reasoning might have made America perfectly safe again he ran into some problems, the objectives intended were not as easly done as planned or hoped for, And the tides of opinon have truned which has generated more dislike for President Bush's "war on terror policy" and so Americans now have more unfriendly countries to be concerned about. He was unskilled at undertaking the mission in hand,. Now we got a bigger mess.
Now if Clinton had in fact conducted a worthy attack on Bin Laden which would have had to include an attack on the government of Afganistan before 9-11, just because Laden ranted about some holy war, or because he blew a hole in one of our ships, then I bet the United Nations and everyone else would have boo-hoo-ed that act. It only seemed logical after the World Trade Center was distroyed. We would have been unpopular in the world but on the other hand no attacks on American soil would have had taken place if Clinton did a "preventive strike" in Afganistan. Which is the better of the two?
The idea behind a first strike is that we must take threatening jestures as being realistic enough to demand preventive measures or not gripe if they carry out their hostility and we wake up one morning to see another major 9-11 event happening in our backyard. We have moved from a "war of words" (cold wars) into a time of real wars on threatening countries because "why take a chance" for them to act out their hostle notions about us.
That is the point,. however I do not agree with my self. |