Preventive war

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 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. Preventive war undertaken without the approval of the United Nations is illegal under the modern framework of international law, 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.

Advocates of Preventive War

Advocates of preventive war have ranged from 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 September 11th world. 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.

Criticism

Legal scholars generally agree that preventive war is not legally distinct from aggression, "the supreme crime" in international law. 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". Critics argue this 'war-at-will' society creates an environment where war can be easily justified.

Examples of Preventive War

Both Axis and Allies in World War II invaded neutral countries on grounds of prevention. In 1940, 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. In 1941, the British and Soviets invaded Iran to secure a supply corridor into Russia. The 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."

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 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. 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 Japan's imperialist desires, especially if hostilities broke out in the Pacific. War games on both sides had long reflected these expectations.

Arab-Israeli War (1967)

Main article: 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 article: Criticism of the Iraq War

The 2003 invasion of Iraq was claimed as a preemptive war by the Bush administration but has been widely criticized as an aggressive or preventive war. Various sources claim that Iraq either did or did not pose any imminent military threat to the USA at the time. Others sources claim that the war was partly an attempt to control Middle Eastern oil wealth.

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.

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.". However, despite several years of occupation, the weapons of mass destruction he alleged have not been found.

See also

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

External links

• Chomsky: Preventive War 'the Supreme Crime'
• The Myth of Preemptive Self-Defense (ASIL Task Force Paper)
• The Caroline Case : Anticipatory Self-Defence in Contemporary International Law (Miskolc Journal of International Law v.1 (2004) No. 2 pp. 104-120)
• The American Strategy of Preemptive War and International Lawbg:Превантивна война

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