Pre-emptive war

Pre-emptive war is war that is waged in an attempt to prevent other conflicts in the future, or to secure a favorable strategic position in an expected war, rather than in response to a attack. Pre-emptive war is generally considered to fall short of the requirements of just war and to violate international law.

Some observers describe as a pre-emptive war the Nazi German invasion of Poland (on September 1, 1939, leading immediately to the first declaration of war in World War II), even though the Germans claimed they were in fact responding to a Polish attack. The invasion was infamous not only for its being the start of WWII, but also because Poland presented no credible military threat to either Germany or its ally and partition partner, the Soviet Union.

In the military sense, the Six-Day War was a highly successful pre-emption, even though the blockade that preceded it was legally a casus belli that created a state of war and justified the subsequent Israeli attack.

Pre-emptive war is described as an important element of the Bush Doctrine. The 2003 invasion of Iraq is generally seen as application of this. The main argument against this is that the invasion was a continuation of the 1991 Gulf war, which was never officialliy finished, but was mearly at a cease fire. Additionally, some critics of the Bush administration argue that the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was another example of pre-emptive war. This is more controversial as it can easily be argued that the September 11 attacks constitute a sufficient reason for an attack. Additionally, the US attack of Afghanistan was really a case of the US supporting one side, the Northern alliance, in a civil war, rather that a case of initiating war.

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