2008 Woodie Awards
We Won't Get Fooled Again This Time
Is the Bush administration setting up a new game of dominos?
Maggie Ownbey
Issue date: 3/29/06 Section: Opinion
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Ever have a Déjà vu; you know that experience when you feel like you've lived through something before?
In his 2002 National Security Strategy plan President Bush pointed out that the development and acquisition of Weapons of Mass Destruction by terrorists and rogue states would require the U.S. to identify and destroy any terrorist threat before it reaches the U.S.
It's been three years since the war in Iraq began on March 19, 2003.
Now with more than 2,300 lives lost, more than 17,000 wounded, nearly $250 million in cost and no WMD, on March 16, 2006 Bush issued a new National Security Strategy reaffirming his doctrine of pre-emptive war against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Despite the lessons learned in Iraq where the numbers continue to go up and Bush sees no end in sight until well past his term as president ends in 2008, the new terror strategy appears to have its sights set to add Iran to the global war on terror.
Despite the fact that other countries including North Korea have nuclear weapons capabilities and Iran, a sovereign country with a democratically elected president, stands to gain nothing from making a first strike except the possibility of being wiped off the map.
The 2006 terror strategy states: "If necessary, under long-standing principles of self-defense, we do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur. When the consequences of an attack with WMD are potentially so devastating, we cannot afford to stand idly by as grave dangers materialize."
"We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran," the document says, echoing a statement made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier in March.
It recommits to efforts with European allies to pressure Tehran to give up any aspirations of nuclear weapons, then adds ominously: "This diplomatic effort must succeed if confrontation is to be avoided."
In his 2002 National Security Strategy plan President Bush pointed out that the development and acquisition of Weapons of Mass Destruction by terrorists and rogue states would require the U.S. to identify and destroy any terrorist threat before it reaches the U.S.
It's been three years since the war in Iraq began on March 19, 2003.
Now with more than 2,300 lives lost, more than 17,000 wounded, nearly $250 million in cost and no WMD, on March 16, 2006 Bush issued a new National Security Strategy reaffirming his doctrine of pre-emptive war against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Despite the lessons learned in Iraq where the numbers continue to go up and Bush sees no end in sight until well past his term as president ends in 2008, the new terror strategy appears to have its sights set to add Iran to the global war on terror.
Despite the fact that other countries including North Korea have nuclear weapons capabilities and Iran, a sovereign country with a democratically elected president, stands to gain nothing from making a first strike except the possibility of being wiped off the map.
The 2006 terror strategy states: "If necessary, under long-standing principles of self-defense, we do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur. When the consequences of an attack with WMD are potentially so devastating, we cannot afford to stand idly by as grave dangers materialize."
"We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran," the document says, echoing a statement made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier in March.
It recommits to efforts with European allies to pressure Tehran to give up any aspirations of nuclear weapons, then adds ominously: "This diplomatic effort must succeed if confrontation is to be avoided."
