Bombs Away!

     In the immortal words of that great political philosopher, Yogi Berra, it’s déjà vu all over again.

      That is, our generation has seen this kind of preemptive military action before … and before … and before:

·       1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the U.S. preemptively implemented a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent Soviet nuclear missiles from becoming operational. It may have been the closest we have come to full-on nuclear war.

·       1964, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, passed by Congress, authorized President Johnson to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war. It was a direct response to alleged attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin. There is, however, some evidence suggesting the alleged attacks may not have happened and were simply a pretext for getting us more deeply involved in an internal civil war thousands of miles away.

·       1983, the U.S. invaded the small Caribbean island of Grenada, allegedly to protect American citizens on the island after the left-wing prime minister was ousted in a coup. It may also have been designed to counter continued perceived Cuban and Soviet influence. 

·       1989, Operation Just Cause, the preemptive invasion of Panama, also was sold as an effort to protect American citizens in the central American country. But our government also wanted to remove from office the difficult and erratic president of Panama, Manuel Noriega.

·       1991, Operation Desert Storm, the first Gulf War, was pitched primarily as a response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. But we also acknowledged that the invasion would preempt further Iraqi aggression, including potential threats to our ally, Saudi Arabia.

·       2001, following the terrorist assaults on New York’s World Trade Center, the U.S. attacked Afghanistan and its Taliban militants, beginning what would become a 20-year war. The war concluded with the Taliban restored to power.

·       2003, the Iraq War began with a preemptive strike against Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction programs. It turned out, however, there were no weapons of mass destruction. The war also was pushed by the Bush administration as a fight against worldwide terrorism, but it turned out there were also no ties between Iraq under Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terrorist network. The 9/11 terrorists were primarily from our ally, Saudi Arabia.

·       2025, the U.S. joins with Israel in preemptively attacking Iran’s nuclear sites. Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to declare war, hasn’t authorized the attacks.

      Indeed, for much of the last 75 years or so, the U.S. has served as the world’s policeman, deciding preemptively—frequently without authorization or consultation—how and where to intervene and for what reasons. And for the most part, as we look back now, the reasons turned out to be spurious and the end results turned out to be bloody and damaging.

      We can only hope this time won’t be as bad.