View source for Preventive war

{{Expert-subject|Politics|date=February 2010}}
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A '''preventive war''' or '''preventative war''' is a [[war]] initiated to prevent another party from attacking, when an attack by that party is not imminent or known to be planned. Preventive war aims to forestall a shift in the balance of power<ref name="Taming American Power, Stephen M. Walt, pp 224">Taming American Power, Stephen M. Walt, pp 224</ref> by strategically attacking before the balance of power has a chance to shift in the direction of the adversary. Preventive war is distinct from [[preemptive war]], which is first strike when an attack is imminent.<ref name="Taming American Power, Stephen M. Walt, pp 224">Taming American Power, Stephen M. Walt pp 224</ref>  Preventive war undertaken without the approval of the [[United Nations]] is illegal under the modern framework of [[international law]],<ref>{{cite |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=UQajT7Bqf-MC&pg=PT97&lpg=PT97&dq=The+False+Promise+of+Preventive+War&source=bl&ots=26B_2EEmPQ&sig=sZ8CyanswIdkYCQ5qshe-KT66mQ&hl=en&ei=cX1qS83oGcW0tgeFydj-BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=un%20charter&f=false |publisher = Oxford UP |editor1 = Henry Shue |editor2 = David Rodin |title=Preemption: military action and moral justification |chapter=The False Promise of Preventive War |author=Suzanne Uniacke |year=2007 |page=88}}</ref> though [[Robert Delahunty]] and [[John Yoo]] from the [[George W. Bush administration]] maintained in their discussion of the [[Bush Doctrine]] that these standards are unrealistic.<ref name ="Delahunty-Yoo Bush Doctrine">The "Bush Doctrine": Can Preventitve War be Justified, Robert J. Delahunty & John Yoo [http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/YooFinal.pdf]</ref>

==Advocates of Preventive War==

Advocates of preventive war have ranged from [[J. Posadas#Nuclear war|Posadist Communists]], who argued for war to destroy capitalism, to western [[neo-conservatives]] such as George W. Bush and [[Donald Rumsfeld]], who argued that preventive war is necessary in today's [[Post-9/11|post September 11th world]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} Proponents claim it has been used throughout American history and is especially relevant in the present as it relates to unconventional war tactics and [[weapons of mass destruction]]. The National Security Strategy advocates a policy of proactive counterproliferation efforts, and preventive measures.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}

==Criticism==
Legal scholars generally agree that preventive war is not legally distinct from aggression, "the supreme crime" in [[international law]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} Commentators as diverse as [[Dwight Eisenhower]] and [[Noam Chomsky]] have argued that accepting one preventive war would open the floodgates to all preventive wars, reducing the world to "the [[law of the jungle]]".{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} Critics argue this 'war-at-will' society creates an environment where war can be easily justified.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}

==Examples of Preventive War==

Both Axis and Allies in [[World War II]] invaded neutral countries on grounds of prevention.{{Or|date=February 2010}} In 1940, [[Operation Weserübung|Germany invaded Denmark and Norway]], arguing that Britain might have used them as launching points for an attack, or prevented supply of strategic materials to Germany.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} In 1941, [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|the British and Soviets invaded Iran]] to secure a supply corridor into Russia. The [[Reza Shah|Shah of Iran]] appealed to President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] for help, but was rebuffed on the grounds that "movements of conquest by Germany will continue and will extend beyond Europe to Asia, Africa, and even to the Americas, unless they are stopped by military force."<ref>Sunrise at Abadan, Stewart Richard pp 94-108</ref>

====Japan v USA 1941====

Though normally considered an act of aggression by Japan, apologists for Imperial Japan have argued that this war was preventative.

The [[Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]] in 1941 was motivated by a desire to remove U.S. naval power from the Pacific to allow the [[Empire of Japan]] to advance with reduced opposition into the rich [[Southern Resource Area]] (the [[Dutch East Indies]], the Malay peninsula, the Philippines, etc.). In 1940, American policies and tension toward [[Military_history_of_Japan#Showa_Period_-_World_War_II|Japanese military actions]] and [[Japanese expansionism]] in the Far East increased. For example, in May 1940, the base of the [[U.S. Pacific Fleet]] that was stationed on the [[west coast of the United States]] was forwarded to an "advanced" position at [[Pearl Harbor]], [[Hawaii]]. The move was opposed by some Navy officials, including their commander, Admiral [[James Otto Richardson]], who was in consequence relieved by President Roosevelt.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} Even so, the [[Far East Fleet]] was not significantly reinforced. Another ineffective plan to reinforce the Pacific was a rather late relocation of fighter planes to bases located on the [[Pacific islands]] (e.g., [[Wake Island]], [[Guam]], and the [[Philippines]]). For a long time, Japanese leaders, especially leaders of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]], had known that the large military strength and production capacity of the United States posed a long-term threat to [[Japanese expansionism|Japan's imperialist desires]], especially if hostilities broke out in the Pacific.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} War games on both sides had long reflected these expectations.

====Arab-Israeli War (1967)====
{{Main|Six-Day War}}
A dispute over territorial waters led Egypt to expel UN forces from buffer zone, close the Straits of Tiran to Israel, and mobilize over 1,000 tanks and 100,000 soldiers on the Israel's borders.  Israel could not maintain a comparable level of mobilization due to its smaller population, and so decided to strike first, and launched the [[Six-Day War]] which has been varyingly described as preventive or preemptive, among other things.

====Iraq War (2003-present)====
{{Main|Criticism of the Iraq War}}
The [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] was claimed as a [[preemptive war]] by the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] administration but has been widely criticized as an aggressive or preventive war.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} Various sources claim that Iraq either did or did not pose any imminent military threat to the [[USA]] at the time.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} Others sources claim that the war was partly an attempt to control Middle Eastern oil wealth.<ref>[[Noam Chomsky]] in Perilous Power ISBN 978-0-14-102972-6 page 83</ref>

Supporters of the war have argued that it was justified, as Iraq harbored [[Islamic]] [[terrorist]] groups that share a common hatred of Western countries. The war's supporters also state that these groups might, in the future, threaten international peace and security and, specifically, [[Europe]] and the [[United States]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}

In support of an attack on Iraq, U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] stated in an address to the [[United Nations]] on September 12, 2002, that the Iraqi "...regime is a grave and gathering danger."<ref>[http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020912-1.html President's Remarks at the United Nations General Assembly, September 12, 2002]</ref>. However, despite several years of occupation, the weapons of mass destruction he alleged have not been found.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7634313/|title=CIA’s final report: No WMD found in Iraq|accessdate= 2009-05-24}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm]]
* [[Bush Doctrine]]
* [[Command responsibility]]
* [[Caroline affair]]
* [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] [[q:Dwight D. Eisenhower|statements]] on '[[preventative war]]' in WikiQuote
* [[Imperialism]]
* [[Jus ad bellum]]
* [[Legality of the Iraq War]]
* [[Military science]]
* [[UN Charter]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4416.htm Chomsky: Preventive War 'the Supreme Crime']
* [http://www.asil.org/taskforce/oconnell.pdf The Myth of Preemptive Self-Defense (ASIL Task Force Paper)]
* [http://www.uni-miskolc.hu/~wwwdrint/20042rouillard1.htm The Caroline Case : Anticipatory Self-Defence in Contemporary International Law (Miskolc Journal of International Law v.1 (2004) No. 2 pp. 104-120)]
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=397601 The American Strategy of Preemptive War and International Law]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preventive War}}
[[Category:Counter-terrorism policy of the United States]]
[[Category:Crime of aggression]]
[[Category:Laws of war]]
[[Category:Wars by type]]

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