The current presidential campaign has addressed the issue of the Bush foreign policy of preemption as safety and the negation of international law vs surrender to terror. In this regard the view produced by Alan Dershowitz’s book Preemption is a dismal failure. Dershowitz promotes the idea that we are in a new world giving sneak attacks a validation that history has long denied to promote peace through negotiation. He glorifies Israel’s attack in the 6 Day War but fails to note that it has led to nothing but more war and unresolved conflict. As Cicero argued, there can be no peace without justice. Without justice, the defeated of today will be the victors of tomorrow, as Israel's existence today is a perfect example.
Dershowitz denies the policy of reconciliation that followed America’s Civil War and the Second World War. Reconstruction has paid Americans back with peace and security for over a 100 years. Lincoln’s vision was the correct one. Had America followed the path of punishment we cannot imagine the cost that might have resulted. We should reflect on the fact that preemption as foreign policy has consequences. Nelson’s sneak attack on Copenhagen in 1801 to end the neutrality of Denmark and her allies, created a model that Bywater used in his novel on Japan and produced the inspiration for Yamamoto’s attack on Pearl Harbor. While it is questionable whether it had any effect on England’s war against France, it was part of a disastrous policy to isolate France that led to England’s allowing Prussia to create Germany as a counterbalance to France. A policy of preemption justifies any terrorist act on any target military or civilian as it negates the rule of law by forfeiting all ethics. If we desire of future where there are no rules, no law and no means of compromise, then the path of Dershowitz and the neocoms in Washington offer it. If we desire a future of confidence in agreements, political and economic and based on law, then we must reject this cynical road they have fashioned.
Niccolo Caldararo, Ph.D.
Dept. of Anthropology
San Francisco State University