Doctrine of Preemption a Failure

Any objective analysis of how the Bush administration has performed in Iraq would have to conclude that the Doctrine of Preemption has failed. Mr. Bush over-reacted to bad intelligence, invaded on the cheap and made no realistic plans for how to deal with the county after the war was over. As implemented by the politicians in charge of this mess it should more properly be called the Doctrine of the Inept.

Iraq is the best example of why this kind of overly aggressive attack by the US is an ill-conceived foreign policy. Three years after the invasion the country is in chaos, 2400+ Americans have died, with thousands more maimed for life. There is no light at the end of this tunnel. There is every reason to believe that the country will break up into civil war as a direct result of Mr. Bush’s failed doctrine. In addition, his failure to find any WMD’s has now caused the moral superiority of the US to be questioned by many of our closest allies, and it is considered a myth of propaganda by the rest of the world.

Where he has chosen to apply his failed doctrine has certainly encouraged Iran to build nuclear bombs. It is clear that the President will only invade “Evil Empire” nations that do not have the bomb. How could any nation react to a threat like that but to build the one weapon that will stop a possible invasion?

If there is any merit to this aggressive doctrine it would have to be implemented by a competent President who would only attack as a last resort and only after damning intelligence is truly confirmed. It would take a leader who plans for both the attack, and the aftermath.