News Reports: Bush Preemptive Strike Doctrine Under Review, May Be Discarded

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Pentagon is reviewing the Bush administration’s doctrine of preemptive military strikes with an eye to modifying or possibly ending it.


The international environment is “more complex” than when President George W. Bush announced the policy in 2002, Kathleen Hicks, the Defense Department’s deputy undersecretary for strategy, said in an interview. “We’d really like to update our use-of-force doctrine to start to take account for that.”


The Sept. 11 terrorist strikes prompted Bush to alter U.S. policy by stressing the option of preemptive military action against groups or countries that threaten the U.S. Critics said that breached international norms and set a dangerous precedent for other nations to adopt a similar policy.


The doctrine is being reassessed as part of the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review of strategy, force structure and weapons programs. Hicks is overseeing the review.


“We are looking very explicitly at use of force and use of forces,” she said. “We are looking at how to articulate the use of the U.S. military instrument -- how we use military force to achieve national objectives.”
 
 
 
Oh Goody! Now we have to wait for an attack on America before we act.
 
How naive
 
How silly
 
How DANGEROUS!
 
But at least it will play well in the cafe's of Paris
 
 
In the meantime, Russia says they reserve the right to NUKE anyone they fell like nuking!