A preemptive world Yesterday, Israel struck a Hamas headquarters in Gaza in retalliation for two suicide bombs on buses in Israel. The attack resulted in a number of dead Hamas members. There was no mention of other casualties although innocent bystanders are often killed in such attacks. Observers could be presumed to have breathed a sigh of relief that it was Gaza and not Syria that was attacked. Syria, which does harbor the Hamas leadership in Damascus, had been threatened by the Sharon government. Israel would have considered itself justified under its right of self-defense policy. Under the same policy Israel has bombed a nuclear facility in Iraq and is said to threaten such facilities in Iran. Of course, Israel is presumed to have nuclear weapons of its own.
Since the beginning of the Afghanistan war America has been fighting and bombing under its own version of self-defense called preemption. We have said we will strike anywhere there exists "terrorists with a global reach" and we will consider nations who harbor such terrorists to be legitimate targets. It is hard to believe Iran is not next on our list.
Today, in response to the horrific terrorist incident in a Russian school house a Russian general stated that the Russian military would strike anywhere in the world where there were terrorists who threatened his country. (I do not have the precise quote, but that was the gist.) We don't know what else he could bomb in Chechnya, but Russia has a number of Muslim neighbors.
Iran has indicated that it would not sit idly by while it was targeted by its enemies.
At least four powerful nations have indicated or practiced a policy of striking anywhere in the world in support of their view of self-defense. I think we have the seeds of another world war where nations fight nations, where there is mass devastation. where the weapons of mass destruction are hysterical nations willing to justify any behavior for national security and the only winners are the terrorists.
Should we reelect George Bush, the author and first practitioner of the American preemptive doctrine, or should we elect John Kerry who has repeatedly stated that the war on terror is a global problem requiring a global solution.
Melvyn Polatchek
7:40:14 PM 
|
|
