When it was first unveiled in September 2002, the Bush administration’s doctrine of “preemptive war” was generally seen as an attempt to justify the impending invasion of Iraq—a country that posed absolutely no real or foreseeable, let alone imminent, threat to the United States. The doctrine was widely condemned outside the United States as advancing a policy for which there exists no foundation in international law.

In issuing this updated version of the National Security Strategy, the Bush administration has made it clear that there will be no retreat from the doctrine of preemptive war; the United States reserves to itself the right to attack, at any time, any country that it considers a threat, or merely a potential threat, even if that country has not taken any overt hostile action.

Invoking “long-standing principles of self-defense,” the Bush administration declares that the United States does not “rule out the use of force before attacks occur, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy’s attack.”

The document states: “To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act preemptively in exercising our inherent right of self-defense.”

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/mar2006/nsec-m17.shtml