I consider Ralph Peters to be one of the more astute columnists out there.
STRIKING FIRST
By RALPH PETERS
Retired Army officer Ralph Peters is the author of "Beyond Baghdad: Postmodern War and Peace."
March 19, 2004 -- AMONG those Americans anxious to declare defeat in the face of victory, a current mantra holds that the idea of preemptive war is dead, killed by the results in Iraq. Absolute nonsense.
Preemptive war, which simply prevents an avowed enemy from killing Americans or other innocents, is alive and kicking as a useful concept. We should all be glad of it: If you know an enemy means you harm, why wait for the knife to fall?
Extremists at both ends of the political spectrum try to destroy ideas they don't like by over-simplifying them until they sound dangerous and absurd. In the case of preemptive war, those on the hard left imply that acceptance of such a policy would unleash our military for an endless round of brutal invasions of harmless states full of happy, peace-loving natives.
In fact, the precedent of Operation Iraqi Freedom - in which America troops did great good for Iraq, the region and the world - laid down a powerful marker. Having broken the imaginary taboo against hitting a virulent enemy before he hits you, we sent a message to dictators and thuggish presidents-for-life that they can no longer count on America standing idly by as they butcher their own people, seek weapons of mass destruction or sponsor terror.
We aren't going to attack everyone, everywhere, all the time. Couldn't do it, even if we wanted to - which we don't. Our use of preventive war will be selective and rare. We may not see another example for decades. But the strongmen realize that, sufficiently provoked, we might do it again next year.
A national security doctrine that includes preemptive war along with a full range of other policy options simply augments our strategic tool-kit.
What are the results, thus far, of our preemptive war against Saddam's regime?
* Iraq is free. Its population has a chance to create a rule-of-law democracy. They may fail at the task, but our actions have given them an oppportunity unprecedented in the history of the Middle East.
* Libya has done an about-face in its quest for weapons of mass destruction and has opened its facilities to thorough inspections. Tripoli's capabilities will be dismantled. As Khadafy watched Saddam go down, his personal fear quotient soared.
* North Korea's confidence has crumbled into irresolute confusion. Behind its bursts of rhetoric, the regime is far less bellicose after watching a small American force punch its way to Baghdad in three weeks. Our demonstration of military prowess had a more powerful effect on our enemies than all the diplomatic chattering in history.
* Iran began to open up its nuclear facilities to European inspectors - anything to keep the Americans out - but Teheran has been unable to control the pace of revelations. What started as an attempted scam has turned into a debacle for the extremist regime.
* Syria is terrified. As an old intel hand, I see the shadows of a struggle behind the curtains in Damascus, with hardliners battling worried realists for President Bashar Assad's soul. Meanwhile, Syria is treading much more carefully.
* Even the Saudis, the human plague upon the Arab world, are searching desperately for reforms they can implement before the people take matters into their own hands. The Saudi royal family is terrified - as that crowd of murderous bigots should be.
Consider, too, the direct effect on the terrorists themselves:
* By Osama bin Laden's own admission, the central focus of the struggle between terror and freedom has shifted from the U.S. to Iraq. While opponents of our policies insist this is a defeat, it's a no-brainer win for Washington. Better to have terrorists rushing to Iraq where we can kill them, than coming to America and killing us.
* In America, our people are far safer than they would have been had we taken the counsel of cowards and done nothing after 9/11. Inevitably, we'll be struck again by terror. But every day without an attack is a victory.
* Driven to desperation, the terrorists have targeted innocent civilians, from blowing up nightclubs in Bali to last week's heart-rending "11/3" assault on the Spanish people. Although these media-genic events make headlines, they're counterproductive. Such attacks remind us all of why we must fight terror relentlessly - they do more to bring civilized nations together than any amount of United Nations resolutions, regional summits or diplomatic arm-twisting could do. In the end, the terrorists are their own worst enemies.
We will not know the long-term results of post-modern America's first preemptive war for at least a decade - perhaps longer. But contrary to the election-year rhetoric poisoning attempts at rational analysis, the early results of Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began only a year ago today, are overwhelmingly positive. Our domestic defeatists just cannot accept that any military endeavor could be a force for good.
No matter who wins the presidential election in November, the idea of preventive war won't disappear. The genie - or djinn, to use the regionally correct term - is out of the dirty bottle of reality. Faced with an imminent threat or mass atrocities, any future president will be glad to have the precedent of our Iraq war behind him (or her).
Amid all the pre-election sniping, as partisans argue that only their candidate can save the United States as we know it, it's useful to recall two simple facts. First, America is bigger than any one president. We survived Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, and we'll survive whoever spends the next presidential term in the White House.
The other fact is that strategic reality trumps campaign promises. LBJ, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all came to the presidency with a strong domestic agenda and little - or no - interest in foreign affairs. But the world refuses to wait while we rearrange our political furniture.
Sadly, we'll be required to fight for freedom again and again. When President X faces his unavoidable crisis, he'll be glad to have the option of preemptive war on the table.
NEW YORK POST |
