Reply #9: It was supposed to prevent something that wasn't very likely anyway: [View All]

[patrice]

Iraqis attacking the U.S. That's what's wrong with Preventative War it's based on things that are not necessarily highly probable.

American military policies have been pre-emptively oriented until now based on likely events that were more probable.

The Bush War is a Preventative war, a war in which we killed people for something they MIGHT do and they might have done MANY things, not necessarily what we thought they might do.

It's a distinction lost on most people. I'm struggling with how to say it, but it has to do with how prevention is directed at behaviors that aren't necessarily that likely, while pre-emption is designed to obviate behaviors that are more certain, so pre-emption is the more conservative position.