Pre-emptive War: The Case of Iraq

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Pages : 5-30

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Publication Date : 2004-01-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The George W. Bush Administration entered office with the neo-Wilsonianagenda of waging `democracy` in the Middle East in order to strengthen USglobal hegemony. The neoconservatives in the Pentagon exploited the 9/11 attackon New York to unleash US military might on the region. The doctrine of pre-emptive war was `altered` to that of preventive war and promulgated as official USnational security doctrine in September 2002. The US `blitzkrieg,` overthrewSaddam and occupied Iraq in only 26 days. The occupation and actions of theCoalition Provisional Authority, under Paul Bremer, resulted in the emergence ofa strong insurgency in mid 2003. US forces engaged in urban guerrilla warfare,leading to serious doubts about the future of Iraq as a US-sponsored neo-liberalcapitalist model for the Arab world. The US invasion and occupation of Iraq wasat the same time a pre-emptive strike upon the European Union, South Asia andChina, in a bid to control global energy resources vital to US economiccompetitors. The first pre-emptive war has now essentially been lost by the United*Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey. Victor Davis Hanson, `Democracy in the Middle East,` The Weekly Standard, Vol. 8, No. 6 21 October, 2002 . Hansonis Shifrin professor of military history at the United States Naval Academy. States, disrupted the Atlantic alliance and given rise to grave doubts about thefuture of the international order
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